I'd Rather Be Special
by AK-tutti
Summary: Sharpay has felt different all her life, and one day she got diagnosed with a handicap called Aspergers Syndrome. She spent years distancing herself from it, she just wanted to be a normal girl, but love forces her to deal with it. - Troypay
1. Trailer

_Hi, she said and smiled nicely at all the Troypay fans, and she was no other than Nathalie Lærke Nielsen aka AK-tutti, who's m_

_Hi, she said and smiled nicely at all the Troypay fans, and she was no other than Nathalie Lærke Nielsen aka AK-tutti, who's most known for her joined fic 'Twist Of Love' with Stessa, which is still in progress. In her carrier as a writer on , she has (honestly) written more deleted stories, than she has posted on her profile right now, she has written two solo fics (that haven't been deleted and hopefully never will), a Beverly Hills 90210 one-shot called 'Love or Necessity' and a High School Musical fic called 'Everything You Are', which is also still in progress, and then there is a third fic, the well known 'Twist Of Love' that I've mentioned before. She originally wanted to get some talented writer to write this fic, but she changed her mind, when ideas just began popping into her head one night. She then decided, that it would be best to write some of it down, so she wouldn't forget it again, because she has a lousy memory. So here we go._

_**Disclaimer; **__Obviously, I don't own High School Musical, but I wanna point out, that I own this idea ;)._

**I'd Rather Be Special – Trailer**

**Bold is voiceover. **_Italics are actions. _Regular is dialogue.

--

**3 years ago, Sharpay thought she was a regular girl...**

_Shows Sharpay shopping at the mall with her friends._

_Shows her laughing and hugging one of her friends._

**But somehow inside, she always knew she was different...**

_Shows Sharpay crying in her mom's arms._

"Why am I so different from everyone else?"

**Her family knew it too, and they wanted the truth...**

_Shows a lady alone in a room with Sharpay._

"Throw the ball at me, Sharpay."

_Sharpay rolls her eyes, but does as she's told._

**When the truth was revealed, they had a decision to make...**

_Shows her mom, stepdad and Ryan in their livingroom talking._

"Do we tell her about this?"

"You know, she'd kill us"

**Someone thought she deserved to know...**

"Sharpay, you have a handicap, that's called 'Aspergers Syndrome'"

**Today, she is known as the ice queen and has no friends...**

_Shows Troy and Chad having an argument._

"Whatever, dude, just stay away from her. Ice.Cold.Brr.Freezing, ok?"

**She pushes everyone away, who gets too close...**

_Shows Troy and Sharpay in the library alone together._

"Troy, I'm different. You better leave me alone."

"I happen to like different."

_He takes a step closer to her._

**She wasn't able to push true love away...**

"You should be with someone normal, like Gabriella."

"I'd rather be with someone special."

**His friends disapproved of the love they shared...**

_Shows Troy and Chad having yet another argument._

"Try and look her in the eyes, Chad, they are not icy..."

"If you stare directly at the sun, you'll go blind."

**And she kept trying to push him away...**

"If you keep this up, Shar, you might just succeed."

**Her handicap and his friends were against them...**

_Shows Troy and Sharpay having a fight._

"I'm a freak, Troy. Just do as your friends tell you to..."

"This song is getting pretty old, Shar..."

**So the question is, does true love really conquere all?**

_Shows Troy and Sharpay looking deeply into each others eyes before kissing._

**Starring...**

**Ashley Tisdale**

_Shows Sharpay letting a tear slip down her cheek._

"I'd rather be special..."

**Zac Efron**

_Shows Troy putting a sticker on Sharpay's shirt, that reads 'I'm Special'._

**Vanessa Anne Hudgens**

_Shows Gabriella walking away from Chad, an angry look on her face._

**Corbin Bleu**

_Shows Chad arguing with Troy._

"Don't come to me, when the mountain lion scratches you!"

**With appearences from...**

**Lucas Grabeel**

_Shows Ryan knocking on his sisters door._

**Monique Coleman**

_Shows Taylor rolling her eyes at Chad._

"Have you considered growing up?"

**And Bart Johnson**

_Shows Jack Bolton having a discussion with his son._

"Just remember, if you make something your one and all, you'll lose everything."

**I'd Rather Be Special**

"Repeat after me; I'd rather be special!"

**Coming soon...**

_Taa-daah, the trailer :). I know it was kinda long for a trailer, but it's mine, and I'm what Troy is trying to convince Sharpay of; special, a little anyway. I thought I'd make a trailer, because that always seem to work well for people, so I wanted to give it a shot, and it was also something to keep reminding me of, where the fic is going. And I'm gonna stop talking now, so you'll have some review time, so you better review ;b. Pretty please?_

**Laters, AK-tutti (because toodles is still not my style)**


	2. 3 Years Ago

_Hi again. Thank you very much for all the wonderful reviews, I loved them :). And before I get on with this story, I just wanna apologize for the trailer. It was fine, when I went to post it, but when I had posted it, some weird voodoo happened, and it got all messed up, but thankfully you guys got the picture ;b. So my internet has been down for a very long time, because I've just moved, but it's up again now, so I'm posting first chapter of I'd Rather Be Special. I just hope, I've still got the magic, I felt a few days ago, when I wrote the trailer. Anyway, here's the 1st chapter, enjoy :)._

_**Disclaimer; **__Sadly, I still don't own anything :(_

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**1. 3 Years Ago**

Sharpay woke up early in the morning that fateful day 3 years ago, she was going shopping that day with her friends, or so she'd like to believe they were. She was both excited and nervous. She was excited about the whole shopping part, she was great at it, and she knew clothes, she even understood clothes. She knew it was weird to say, that you understood clothes, but she really did. She knew more than her friends, of course they knew what was in fashion, but they didn't know clothes like Sharpay did. And then there was the nervous part, that was about taking the bus, she'd never really gotten into that. She'd always talk one of her friends into paying for her, because she was too nervous to do it herself. What if she screwed up and made a total fool out of herself?

It had happened before. She'd taken the bus with her bestfriend 2 years ago, and when she was paying for herself, she dropped all her money on the floor, and she had to bend down and pick them up in front of everybody. It was extremely embarrassing, and she'd hated taking the bus ever since, even after her mom's "they say it take 15 good times to out number a bad time"! It was idiotic, what was she gonna do, take the bus 15 times to get over that one time? And what if a new bad experience happened in those 15 times?

Sharpay had always been paranoid with almost anything, which made her bestfriend 2 years ago call her 'Chicken Little'. That same bestfriend ditched Sharpay a year ago, and since then she hadn't been able to make any real friends. She had tried, but she'd just been comfortable with Gabriella for so long, she hadn't bothered to make other friends, and in those years they were friends, she'd completely forgotten how to, at least that was what she told herself. The truth was, she was simply too scared to try.

She got up and got ready for the day. She picked out an outfit, put it on and went downstairs for breakfast. Ryan was already sitting in the kitchen at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, when Sharpay entered the room, looking tired.

"Hi, Shar. Good morning." Ryan greeted his sister, as she grabbed a bowl from a cabin and sat down next to him.

"Yeah." She said, brushing him off. She wasn't really good at greeting people, especially when it came to something with good in it, and she was even worse, when it came to saying properly goodbye. That was one of many things, that seperated her from her friends. She had never really been good at thank you's either.

"Would it kill you to say good morning like normal people?" Ryan asked, as he watched his sister pour milk and cereal into her bowl. "And while we're at it, I would like to teach you a new word, can you 'please'?"

"I'm sorry, Ry, but I don't see the point." Sharpay replied, and she began eating her cereal. "I mean, it's polite and everything, but have I ever been?"

Ryan seemed to think about it for awhile, and then he said; "Ok, I see your point. You've never been polite, only on special occasions."

"It's really odd." Sharpay remarked, "I was raised to be, and I want to be, but I can't. It's like it scares me to be polite. I try and everything, but it just feels weird coming out of my mouth, and I don't like it. Is that weird?"

"Yeah, but you've always been different. You've said so yourself almost your entire life." Ryan pointed out, and Sharpay started wondering, that maybe there was more to it than just being different?

"Yeah..." She trailed off, as her mind began running freely. Ryan was right, she had always said, that she was different, and she had always been, as long as she could remember, but she'd never thought anything of it. Of course, it had made her really sad from time to time, and she'd come home crying, wondering out loud, why she was so different? Why she was a freak? Why she wasn't like anybody else? But her mom with always say, that everybody was different, and that was what made everybody special. She didn't believe it one bit, she was different more than anybody. Right now she didn't care, even though it sucked, but she had friends, and they were going shopping that day, so she couldn't sit there and wonder all day long.

"What are you thinking about, Shar?" Ryan asked, just as he'd finished his breakfast and put the bowl in the dishwasher.

"Just stuff, don't matter." Sharpay said, quietly, and she finished her breakfast. "Anyway, I've gotta go now. Big day today. I wouldn't want to miss the bus, oh how I love to ride it."

Ryan chuckled at his sister's sarcasm and said goodbye to her, and she left with a "Yeah, whatever.", and Ryan began wondering about the same thing Sharpay had. There definitely was something unregular about his sister, and he'd like to know, what it was.

**IRBS**

10 minutes later, Sharpay stood, waiting for her friends at the bus stop. She really disliked that kind of places, or any public place for that matter. She had this unpleasant feeling, that everybody was watching her, thinking nasty things about her, giggling at her and whispering about her. It made her feel small, out of place, a little scared and very nervous. She'd tried telling her friends about it, but they'd just tell her to 'get over herself', as if she wanted all eyes to be on her, but really she hated it like no other thing. And if she tried telling her friends that, they'd call her a liar, because of the fact that she was in the drama club and always got the lead in the school plays. That wasn't because she liked attention, though, it was because it was her safety net. She'd been acting, singing and dancing since she was 3, and that was the only reason, she felt safe doing it and even dared, because truth be told, she hated speaking in front of people. She got scared and nervous, when she had to - especially in class, but on stage she was usually with Ryan, so the eyes could as easily be on him as on her, and that was what she made herself think, when she was on stage, otherwise she didn't dare.

"Sharpay!" One of her friends called, as they approached Sharpay. "So are you planning on paying yourself this day, or do we do it for you? I could hold your hand, if you'd like?"

Sharpay knew it was meant as fun, but she couldn't help but always take things a little more personal, than they were. She cleared her throat and replied, barely audible; "Uhm.. I was thinking, uhm... maybe... maybe we could walk?"

"What do you say, girls? Do we take her with us to the mall?" Another one of her friends kid, "I mean, she'd rather hang out with boys anyway. She spends almost every hour with that black boy, what's his face? Oh yeah, Chad Danforth."

Sharpay looked down at the pavement, she could feel the tears trying to fight their way out of her eyes, but she wouldn't let them, not in front of her so called 'friends'. Truth was, she didn't feel obligated to wear makeup and do the things, girls are expected to do, when she was with boys, she could just be herself - at least more than she could with her other friends, who were girls. And then Chad seemed to be the only person on the planet, who found her weirdnesses cool, so she couldn't help but care for the guy.

"Can't we just get going?" Sharpay said, as clearly as she could, without sounding like she was on the edge of crying. "I mean, as 'fun' as this is, it's not the reason, we're gathered here today. We're going to the mall to spend some money, so can't we just get off of Sharpay's case?"

She had a habit of speaking of herself in third person, and then all of her friends would have a field day, because they obviously thought it was hilarious to tease her about it.

"Y'know girls? Rumor has it, that Sharpay get her school money back last year, and now we know why?" The third one laughed, clearly thinking she was funny, one of the other's only giggled slightly, and the second just stared strictly at the friend, who made the joke.

Cheap shot, but it was the tip of the iceberg. The first tear began to make it's journey down Sharpay's cheek, and they were soon followed by a whole stream. Why did they have to get it off by teasing her, the only one's amused were themselves and no other's. The girl staring strictly rushed over to Sharpay and enveloped her in a friendly hug.

"Nadine, that wasn't funny." The girl, by the way called Lilee, told her friend, obviously named Nadine. "It's not Sharpay's fault, she isn't doing so well in school right now, and you shouldn't tease her. Now, let's just get on the bus, go to the mall and have fun! I'll pay for you, Shar."

And as if on cue, the bus arrived and they stepped inside. Lilee payed for Sharpay, as she said she would, and Sharpay was happy for that, but she couldn't help feeling invalid and helpless, like a little child who couldn't do anything on its own. She didn't mention it, though, and neither did Lilee, she just smiled at Sharpay. She brushed the feeling away and gave Lilee a smile back, and together they wandered to the back of the bus to sit down next to Nadine and Chase, which was the name of the third friend.

Chase was a sweet girl, and when other's teased Sharpay, she almost never joined, and that was much appreciated, but today she joined, and Sharpay resented her a little for that. Sharpay let that feeling slide as well as the previous one. What she felt didn't matter right now, what mattered was that they all got out of this shopping day happy and in one piece, as they almost always did.

"Do you think I'm different?" Sharpay suddenly asked out of nowhere, and she surprised both Chase and Lilee with the question. Nadine didn't seem surprised at all, it was like she had suspected the question to come any minute. "Any maybe, I dunno, weird?"

"Sharpay," Chase started her sentence weakly, "I'm sorry, but yeah. I'm really sorry, but you're both different and weird, but it's one of the reasons _I_ like you. Honestly."

"Well, I've never really noticed it. I just assumed, you had a very strong personality, and you just came off weird because of that." Lilee said quietly, this subject made her uncomfortable. "But now that you mention it... A little bit, yeah. Actually a lot, I'm sorry too."

"I'm gonna be completely honest with you, Sharpay." Nadine said, eagerly, as if she was excited to get another opportunity to tear Sharpay down. "You're a total freakshow. Freaks'R'Us, you'd be the president, and I'm not sorry, because it is the truth."

"Way to be a good friend, Nady." Lilee spat, "She asked you a question, she didn't tell you to give her breakdown. Yes, she's weird, but she's nice too."

"People are wondering, why we're friends with her. It's pretty obvious, how weird she is."

The bus stopped at the mall, and the friends didn't say a word to each other, they just exited the bus quietly. Chase was too nervous to talk, she had a feeling, that whatever anybody said would just make things worse. Lilee was too angry at Nadine to say anything, she'd just blow up if she had to. Nadine was simply Nadine, a real bitch, and she knew, that if she talked, no-one would answer her, they were too mad at her. And then there was Sharpay, she was busy crying on the inside, it was all her fault, she was such a screw up. She always messed things up, at least that was how she felt, and according to herself, Nadine was right about her being a freakshow.

They entered the mall, and it lightened the tension a little bit but not much. It was packed with people today, they could hardly get around, and Sharpay just wanted to be invisible. She hated big gatherings, as mentioned earlier, and she felt sick, and she really wanted to go home, but she couldn't, because that would only add to the freak fest.

She made a decision, though, that if she had to stay one of her least favorite places, she'd try to make the air a little friendlier. "Look, you guys, I'm sorry I brought this weird issue up. Can we just, I dunno, forget it and try to have some fun?"

They all agreed on that, and after that Nadine, Lilee and Chase headed for H&M, but Sharpay didn't move. The store was filled with people, and now she felt even sicker, knowing she was going in there.

Chase read the situation, that Sharpay was about to object, so she got ready to drag Sharpay in there, but she didn't even get to flinch, before Sharpay had clung herself to a pole, not wanting to let go at all. Chase took a hold of both Sharpay's ankles and tried pulling her off the pole and into the store, but Sharpay still didn't let go, so Nadine joined in to help Chase, but their combined power wasn't enough to pull Sharpay free, so Lilee had to join in as well, not that it made much difference, but they had to try.

"Let go, Shar!"

"No, I swore to Chad, that I would never enter that store, and the place is packed!" Sharpay yelled, grimacing her face, it was hard to hold onto the pole. It was three against one, but Sharpay was stubborn and refused to let go, even though it felt like it could happen any minute.

"Come on, Shar. Please let go!" Chase yelled, and it was like a beg, a yelling beg. They began to pull harder in her legs, but Sharpay just wrapped her arms tighter around the pole.

"I don't wanna, and you can't make me. I promised Chad!" Was all that Sharpay had to say to that, and she could feel she was beginning to sound like a baby, but at that time she didn't realize.

"Sharpay, let go. Now! Seriously, who cares what you promised that afrohead." Nadine chipped in, but it didn't help the situation at all. Sharpay was now even more determined to stay onto the pole. "Let go of that god damn stupid pole!"

"Nuh uh, I'm not gonna. If you wanna go in there so badly, go! But a promise is a promise, and I made Chad one!"

"Let go!"

"No!"

"Let go!"

"NO!"

"Fine, Sharpay, you win." They all said in a defeated undertone, and Chase continued; "But please, after we've been into H&M, you have to go with us into HVM. First of, because you love music, and second of, because we let you stay out of H&M. So what do you say, please?"

Sharpay agreed, and her friends left and went into H&M. She stood outside and waited for them, she knew it could be long, so she found a somewhat comfortable possition. She leaned her back on the pole, she a few minutes ago had clung onto so stubbornly. She let out a deep sigh and was about to let her mind wander off again, when she heard a voice from behind.

"I thought, I heard your squeaky voice, Shaggy."

She turned around and got surprised, it was Chad with some of his friends at the mall. Chad at the mall, she couldn't believe it. It was definitely a 'Dear Diary' moment, she thought to herself, as she got an idea. She grabbed her cell from her pocket and snapped a quick photo of Chad, and as she put it back in her pocket, she mumbled something like; "Evidence!"

There was a small silence, and then they both exclaimed at the same time; "I can't believe it, what are you doing here?"

"Well, me and my homies thought we'd check out some chicks at the mall..." Chad began, but was cut off by the look Sharpay gave him, that clearly said 'I don't believe you one second', so he had to admit it, "Fine, there are half off donuts at some café, we just don't know which one yet. Now you go."

"Nadine, Chase, Lilee and I are here shopping. They're in H&M right now..." And she too was cut off, but by a look that Chad gave her, "I didn't go in with them, I swear. I refused. I actually hung on to this pole and made a huge scene. But anyway, after they come out, we're going to HVM, and then I don't know. So who are your 'homies', Chad?"

"This is Trick, Carlos, Shayne, Duncan and Troy." Chad said and pointed at his friends one by one, as he introduced them. Sharpay had no idea, that in about 3 years, she'd form a special relationship with the last of them. Infact, she didn't even take notice of him, she'd already forgotten all of Chad's 'homies' names. His friends stared intensely at Sharpay, as if they could she right through, and that was when Chad realized, that he'd forgotten to introduce Sharpay to them.. "Oh, guys. This is my best girl friend, Sharpay, but she's used to be called Shaggy by us guys, or mainly me."

As Sharpay did to them, they didn't acknowledge Sharpay either. They knew each other's names now, but that was it. Troy didn't know about the future either, he just asumed she was another dumb blonde and forgot all about having met her in only a few weeks.

Giggling, Sharpay's friends came out of H&M with a bunch of shopping bags, and Chad took that as his cue to leave the party. His friends went with him, and Nadine was relieved that she didn't have to be in their presence, because she couldn't stand them, especially Chad. She was kind of a racist, but she didn't let anyone know.

"Wait up, Chad!" Sharpay exclaimed, as he'd gotten 8 feet away. She ran towards him as fast as she could, she jumped on his back and gave him a hug from behind. When Sharpay crawled down from his back, he turned around and enveloped her in a proper hug. As they stood there, Sharpay whispered in his ear, "One of these days, you're gonna have to come to my place and listen to the new cds I'm gonna get today with me, ok?"

Chad nodded with a smile, and they went their seperate ways, and they didn't see each other for the rest of the day at the mall. They were on a lookout, but never passed each other. Maybe it was because, her friends wanted to go into clothing stores, and she herself wanted to go into music stores and little bit clothing stores, and Chad and his friends hung out at that café, that sold donuts half off.

All day at the mall, when they were shopping, her friends would tease her with her being weird and the random strange things, that she now and again did or said. Sharpay knew it was meant as good fun, but she took it a little more personal than it was, and it made her really said, even though as said it was for fun. It still hurt, and Sharpay wanted to cry, but that would only make matters worse. So you can guess, that Sharpay was relieved, when she finally got to go home that day.

She walked into her house and let the first tear slip down her cheek, this day had been more, than Sharpay could handle. She knew it wasn't very teenager like, but she wanted her mommy, she needed her right then. She felt so lousy, and she'd never felt so 'different' in her entire life!

She raced all through the house, screaming for her mommy, the tears still streaming down her face, "Mommy, where are you? Mommy? Mom?"

"In here, Shar!" Her mom called from the livingroom, and Sharpay ran in there faster than she'd ever ran before. She let her mom wrap her arms around her, and she sobbed even more than she did earlier. "Oh, what's wrong, honey?"

"Why am I so different from everyone else?" Sharpay said in a tearful voice, and her mom began stroking her hair gently. "I have had a horrible day, my friends were so mean to me, and I just felt so different and out of place. The only upside was meeting Chad there, but it didn't make me feel less different. I'm a total freak mom, what's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you." Her mom reassured her, even though she knew deep inside that, that wasn't quite true, but she couldn't tell her daughter that. It would be like kicking her, while she was already down. "You're alright, sweetie, you're alright."

"Are you sure?" Sharpay asked, and with a nod from her mom, her mood lightened up a little bit, and she started showing her mom, the things she'd bought. "I bought 5 cds, and I know you might think, it was really expensive, and you shouldn't trust me with money again, but some of them were on sale. Anyway, I got Atomic Kitten's Feels So Good on sale and also one with a band I've never heard of before; Girls Aloud, I thought I might as well give it a listen. The cd is called 'What Will The Neighbours Say?', and then I got 3 others, that weren't on sale, and that's that."

Tracy, her mom, smiled at her daughter. She loved hearing her daughter talk about music, because she knew, she was passionate about it. She just wished, Sharpay would open her eyes and realize, she had a great talent at singing. Sharpay herself only thought, she had an ok voice, nothing worth an ovation. Tracy hated how little Sharpay thought of herself, and how she'd always tear herself down, when she was actually good at something.

Sharpay went on and on about her cd's, and her mom kept thinking about her daughters differences from others, and when Sharpay was finally done with her music ramble, Tracy had come to, that she wanted to get her daughter checked out to see, if she was indeed 'normal'. She knew places, you could get that checked, she just had to make an appointment and get Sharpay to go. That should be easy, Tracy only had to promise her daughter 50 dollars, and she'd go anywhere for an entire day, so that was what, she was gonna do.

**IRBS**

A week later Sharpay was going to, what she believed was a regular examination, that everybody her age went to, at least that was what her mom had told her. Of course, her mom bribed her with 50 dollars, before Sharpay agreed to go, and now she was here, waiting to go in.

Sitting in the waiting room, Sharpay felt nervous and cold, as she always did those kind of places. In her own opinion, she was a walking freak and people could see it, and she didn't want to be teased about it. She never realized, she looked like a normal girl, she always asumed, that people could tell something was with her, and in the future it didn't get any better, but she didn't know that yet.

Sharpay was bored out of her mind, so she kept scanning the room over and over again, and on the fifth time scanning it, she noticed that she was the only girl there. She found that pretty odd, her mom had told her this was a regular thing for people her age, then how come she was the only girl on the spot? Something wasn't right, Sharpay had a strange feeling in her stomach, that she had been tricked to this thing, but right then she didn't think anything of it, because her mom always told her the whole truth, she had never lied to Sharpay before.

She took another glance through the room, trying to figure out what this appointment was for, but she didn't get anywhere. She looked at her mom, questions in her brown eyes, who simply smiled at her, not helping at all. She then tried getting eyecontact with her stepdad and failed, he was impatiently tapping his finger on the chair he was seated in, he looked to be as bored as Sharpay felt. Her eyes wandered to her brother after that, who curiously glanced around the room, he'd only tagged along to support his sister. He knew what was going down, and she didn't, so he was really fascinated with fact, that all the others in the room looked just as normal as Sharpay did, and most of them weren't.

"Sharpay Evans!"

Sharpay was dragged back to reality by a lady, and Sharpay guessed, she was the one who was gonna examine her. The lady sent Sharpay a smile, who stared nervously at her mom, and she nodded at her to go on in with the strange lady. Sharpay swallowed hard and followed the lady into another room.

When they were in the other room, the lady spoke; "Hi, Sharpay. Let me tell you a little about, what's going to happen this hour. First we're gonna have a conversation, where I ask you some questions, and you answer them the best you can. We need to know, that your language is how it's supposed to be, that there's nothing wrong with it, and you know how to use it. When we're done with that, we're continuing with some physical stuff, like throwing balls, skipping and stuff like that to see, if you're correctly physically coordinated..."

"Correctly physically coordinated?" Sharpay exclaimed, obviously getting furiated (_don't know, if it's a word, but let's say it is, ok?_). "Do I look physically handicapped to you?"

"No, you don't." The lady sighed, "But I'm sorry, that's the procedure, I need to tell you these things, and we need to do them. Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

Sharpay suddenly felt very shy, she wasn't very comfortable talking with strangers, and that little outburst before came from irritation, and she spoke without thinking, which she often did, but now that the focus was directly at her, and she was the one expected to talk now, she wanted to disappear, be invisible.

"Uhm..." She started off, barely audible. She decided to glare at her feet, using the 'If I can't see you, you can't see me' tactic, she often used in those situations. "I uhm... I'm 13 years old?"

"Not what I'm looking for, Sharpay. You're telling me things, I already know." The lady smiled kindly at her, before continuing; "I get the feeling, you're not comfortable talking to people you don't know, am I right?"

Sharpay nodded, shyly and a little ashamed of herself. Why was she always like this?

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Sharpay." The lady reassured her, "If you turn out the way, I think you do, then that's perfectly normal."

"That's what you're doing, isn't it?" Sharpay asked, sadness in her voice, "Checking to see, if I'm normal. That's why you're going to ask me those questions, you talked about and afterwards check my physical coordination, right?"

"You're a bright kid, Sharpay, you catch on quickly." The lady simply said, as she wrote some things down on a notepad, "It's true, I'm checking to see, if you're alright, if there's something wrong with you. I have to tell you one thing, though, what I'm checking you for is a really rare thing, so you needn't worry."

Sharpay mustered a halfhearted smile, but it didn't last long. Nervously, she started fidgetting with her bracelet, which she often did to avoid eyecontact with people, infact in those 10 minutes Sharpay had been in room, she hadn't once had eyecontact with the lady, which Sharpay saw she noted down.

"I've got a suggestion." The lady said, standing up and got something out of a box, a ball. "What do you say, we start with the physical stuff first and move onto talking afterwards?"

Sharpay nodded, still looking down, and as she stood up, she muttered under her breath; "I hate when things change." And she was referring to, what the lady had said in the beginning, talking first and then the physical, and now it was physical first and talking after. She hated when things changed, and she always had a hard time adjusting to them.

The lady quickly noted, what she'd heard Sharpay say, and then she handed her the ball and said; "Throw the ball at me, Sharpay."

Sharpay rolled her eyes, this was ridiculous, but she did as she was told and threw the ball at the lady, who caught it, and then explained to Sharpay, like she was a little child, that she was gonna throw the ball and Sharpay, who had to try to catch it.

That hour lapped by slowly, but it was finally over, and Sharpay raced out of the room into the next, and she ran into her mom's arm. She felt really uncomfortable and she just needed a hug, which she got.

She and Ryan was then told to go wait in the car, while their mom and stepdad shared some words with the lady, Sharpay had been alone with for an hour. She had hated it, being alone in a room with a total stranger, being scared out of her mind for what she might have done. Weird, but that was how Sharpay's mind worked.

"So how was it?" Ryan asked, curiously, and bounced cheerfully next to his sister, who sent him a death glare.

"Go to hell, Ry." She snapped, skipping past him and made run for it to the car. She was gonna be angry for the rest of the day, she could feel it. The smallest things could ruin her mood, and then she'd stay like that all day, nothing could cheer her up. Well, somedays you could, Sharpay was very unpredictable in her mood, in other words she had many mood changes. At first her parents had just assumed it was teenager stuff, but then they realized it was more extreme, which it was, but Sharpay was really working on improving. And as she had gotten older, she'd been getting meaner and meaner towards Ryan, who sometimes feared her and didn't even dare glancing at her.

After 15 minutes of waiting in the car in silence, their parents finally approached, and Sharpay was relieved, when they drove home, she felt like she'd been waiting for it forever.

**IRBS**

A week later, Sharpay had forgotten all about the appointment, as she had labelled it in her mind 'No Importance', and those things she usually forgot. She would never admit it, but she had a very negative attitude most of the time, and she couldn't see, how all of those things could prove anything. Sharpay had decided, what she was herself, she was a regular girl, who just happened to be a little different from others - no big deal?

Sharpay was listening to some music in her room, a song on the Feels So Good album she bought a few weeks ago, she believed it was called something along the lines of 'Love Doesn't Have To Hurt To Feel Good' or something like that, she couldn't really remember the name of the song at the moment, but she was humming along.

Everytime Sharpay listened to music, her thoughts would run freely, and she'd feel empty inside or like something was missing in her life, and sometimes she'd wonder who she really was, because she didn't feel like she knew herself. She would think back on her life and wonder, what made her Sharpay? Who was Sharpay? A piece of her was missing and she was missing something. But as soon as the music stopped, she'd forget those thoughts and... pretend she knew herself.

While Sharpay was listening to music upstairs, her parents and Ryan were downstairs in the livingroom, and they'd just gotten the news on Sharpay's test results. They were not like they'd hoped, but they were what, they'd expected. They weren't really surprised about them, but they still had some things to discuss. Like;

"Do we tell her about this?" Tracy spoke after a few minutes and made eyecontact with Richard, who was sitting next to her in the couch. "And if we do, then what? She'd have to change school, she'd have to go to a school with kids like that."

"You know, she'd kill us. She can't go to a school like that, I don't care if she's braindamaged!" Richard said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Richard, don't call her that!" Ryan exclaimed, sending her stepdad an evil glare, as he slammed his fist down on the coffeetable. "She has a handicap, she's not retarded!"

"Actually..." Tracy began, while studying her feet, she hated this conversation, "She kinda does. One side works better than the other. But the question still stands, do we tell her?"

"I don't think so. It would be too back a change, it would turn her life upside down, and we can't do that to her." Richard said, "She'd hate us for it and blame us, and I think it's best, that she thinks she's just a regular girl, like everyone else. I think, that would be best for her."

Yeah right, Ryan thought to himself, you don't know what's best for my sister, you only care about yourself. I'm gonna tell her.

He raised himself from his chair and made his way upstairs to Sharpay's room, where he knocked on the door, and after a 'come in' he entered his sister's room.

Sharpay was lying on the floor, still listening to music, but she turned it off as Ryan entered, and she sent him a small smile. He smiled back and sat himself down on her bed, and she got up from the floor and sat down next to him.

"What's up, Ry?"

"There's something I need to tell you," Ryan started off, as he wondered how to get it out, "But I don't know how to say, so I'm just gonna come right out and say. Before I do, though, I just want you to know, that I'm gonna be there for you all the way, and if you've got any questions I'll help you. I'll help you with anything you want related to the issue, I'll even get you books about it."

Sharpay was beginning to get concerned and a little frightened. "What is it, Ryan? What's wrong?"

"I don't know, how to tell you this, and what makes it even harder is, mom and Richard don't want you to know, but I think you deserve the truth, and remember I'm her for you."

"Ryan, just tell me, would you?"

Shock, grief, fear and various mixed emotions were written across her face, as she heard what came next.

"Sharpay, you have a handicap, that's called 'Aspergers Syndrome'"

_I'm gonna end it right here and now, and next chapter will pick up 3 years later. If you are curious about Sharpay's reaction, some of it will be mentioned in next chapter, but I'm sure she cried and freaked out, but we'll see about that, when she thinks back on the day, she found out about the little xtra piece of herself. Anyway, enough talking, please review and tell me, what you think about first chapter, and if it doesn't seem like the great thing right now, but it will get better, I just need to start it properly, or maybe I'm a terrible writer? Anyway you should review or I'll... No, let me say that differently; review, and I'll give you a cookie. Bribing works most of the times._

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_


	3. Today Is Today

_Hola everyone. I'm back again with second chapter of, what I hope to be an amazing story. I'm thinking about changing the summary, it doesn't do the fic any justice. Well, you don't know that yet, but I do. I think I'm gonna change it, I'll have to think about to what, but I'll definitely change. And I've got a message to my readers (at least some of them); could you please review the chapters and not just add the story to favorite stories or story alert? I really need the reviews to go on. Thank you :). So on with the story, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter._

_**Disclaimer; **__I don't own anything, except for the idea, that is all mine._

_**Dedication;**_**Riesen**_, I love her with all my heart and soul, and she's always there for me, and she never asks for anything in return. She supports me in whatever, and I do the same for her. Recently she's been, I don't even know how to put it into words, but because of that, I dedicate this chapter to her. I don't know, if she's reading this, because she's a Troyella fan (sorry about that), but no matter what, I'll always love her._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**2. Today Is Today**

_Today is today, and tomorrow is just another today._

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Sharpay groaned and threw her pillow at the alarm clock. 3 years ago she was diagnosed, that she had a handicap, that she wasn't like everyone else, but even though she had been proven different, it didn't mean that she liked getting up at 6am every morning to go to school and be tortured for hours. At that point she was a regular teenage girl.

She slowly opened her eyes, she let them wander her room, as she took it in; it was pink, and it was messy like hell. She had never really been into cleaning her room, so it always looked extremely messy. Occasionally it was nice and clean for a few days, but that was only when her mom would get frustrated with looking at the mess, and she'd clean it up, because she wouldn't be able to take it anymore. It was getting there again, Sharpay could feel it.

She got out of her bed, she didn't make it though, that would fall under the category of cleaning her own room. She walked over to her closet and began searching it for something to wear that day, the first day at school after spring break.

She wasn't successful, after 40 minutes all of her clothes lay in a big pile on the already messy floor. She screamed, and she put all of her energy into it, this was so beyond description, why was it so hard to find a damn outfit for school? 3 years ago it wasn't that difficult, she'd with no problems at all find a cute outfit, throw it on and head to school, but it wasn't like that anymore. Now she felt like, she had something to cover up. She was afraid, that if she wore something wrong, people would know she was handicapped. How could she find an outfit with the message 'I'm normal'? She wanted to seem normal to everyone else, even though she knew, she wasn't. Maybe if other's believed it, she would believe it herself?

"Am I beginning to see a pattern here, sis?" She heard a voice say, and she looked back and saw her brother standing in the door opening to her room. "Personally, I don't think it matters, what you wear, because I don't think people will be able to tell based on your outfit. The only way people would know, would be if you spill the beans yourself. You look completely normal, this handicap is not a physical thing."

Sharpay stood up, she'd been sitting on the floor before, looking at her big pile of clothes, she turned around completely and faced Ryan. She crossed her arms and said with an icy voice; "How do you know? You said so yourself, that you read in a book, that Aspergers have problems with their movements or something along those lines, you said you read it in a book about Aspergers Syndrome!"

Ryan sighed and shook his head, his sister could be so paranoid sometimes. "Look, Sharpay, as long as they don't hand you a handball and ask you to throw it in the low right corner of the goal, I think you're good."

"Ok, you're a little right about that, but still they could notice!" Sharpay exclaimed, being stubborn, and her arms were still crossed, "You really don't know anything, here you are fully dressed with no worries, and here I am with nothing to wear, and you're telling me people won't know, no matter what I wear? You don't have my problem, so how do you know?"

"Because I can't tell..."

"Because you already know, so there's nothing to tell." Sharpay cut him off, but the message had sunken in just a little bit, because she picked up a denim mini-skirt and a yellow/silver striby top.

"Yeah, but even if I didn't know, I wouldn't be able to tell something is wrong with you."

"That's just meaningless words, Ry. We both know you can tell, you could tell even back then!" Sharpay yelled, she had put clothes on, while Ryan had been talking, so she was almost fully dressed, all she needed was shoes. As she made her towards her closet with shoes, she continued her yelling; "You always agreed with me, I was different. You said, you thought I was different, you knew I was different. So if you can tell, they can tell."

"That's completely different, Shar, and you know it!" Ryan was yelling now, too. He threw his hands up in the air, he was getting really frustrated with her, but he was on a mission. "I'm your brother, I'm with you everyday, I know you inside and out, so of course I'd be able to tell. But those people at school won't be able to tell, because they don't know you, and you made sure of that. You've taken upon the role of the ice queen, so people won't get to know you, so they won't find out, that something is wrong with you." Sharpay stepped out of her closet with a pair of discreet silver heels, and Ryan added; "Ah, my work here is done!"

Sharpay scratched the back of her head, she had no idea, what her brother was going on about right now. "Huh?" Was all that she could let out, because she was very confused.

"You don't get it?" Ryan asked, and his blonde sister shook her head. "Every morning you get up, and you don't know what to wear, because you don't want to label yourself handicapped by a mistake, and that's where I come in! We get into this fight about your handicap, which drives you to put on some clothes, and you don't even realize you're doing it in the process. And look at yourself, what you're wearing is very much in style and you seem so normal."

Looking down on herself, Sharpay realized her brother was right, this was a morning routine for her, it was like she couldn't function without it. Great, another add to her handicap, if she continued adding to it, soon she wouldn't be able to get much weirder. It was sad really, but then again there were things she needed to be able to get around in her everyday, and according to Ryan, it was like that for everyone with Sharpay's syndrome, their routines were just different, and some needed things other's didn't. Nobody were alike, but it was like that with normal people too, wasn't it?

"And you'll notice, when we get downstairs, we're gonna have another argument," Ryan continued, as they side by side started their walk down to the kitchen for breakfast. "This argument is gonna be about my car, that you insist on calling 'Mr. Paperblock' every morning, but every morning I tell you no, sadly I lose, because I know you won't be able to get into the car, without being allowed to call it that. So because you have to go to school, I have to give into your request to refer to the car as 'Mr. Paperblock', otherwise you won't go into the car, and you won't go to school."

"So I can call Mr. Paperblock 'Mr. Paperblock'?" Sharpay asked, as they'd finally reached the kitchen. She didn't really care, she called the car the anyway, just not around Ryan.

"I don't want to argue with you today, so yes you can!"

Sharpay grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl in the kitchen and took a bite of it. She headed towards the door and stopped right before it, she turned around and said; "C'mon, let's go. Last one at the car is a Snorlax."

"Shar, I haven't even had breakfast yet." Ryan tried to protest, he wanted to be able to take his time in the morning and not rush out of the door, like there was a fire or something, but Sharpay wouldn't listen to him.

"So? Mr. Paperblock waits for no man!" She exclaimed, and with that she ran out of the door and to the car 'Mr. Paperblock'.

**IRBS**

_Today is today, and tomorrow is just another today._

15 minutes later, Ryan parked Mr. Paperblock at his usual parking spot, no one dared taking it, cos he was the brother of the ice queen. He turned off the engine and glanced at his sister, who had an odd expression on her face. It was kind of a mix between upset and offended.

"What's the matter, Shar?" He questioned, as he put the car keys in his pocket and got his bag ready.

"You are parked too close to the red car." Sharpay replied, without moving her gaze from the red car, that without a doubt was bothering her.

"No, there's plenty of room to get out of 'Mr. Paperblock'." Ryan handed his sister her bag as well, he was about to open the door to get out, when Sharpay had another one of her weird episodes.

"No, you're too close to it, Ry!" She cried, and she refused to take her bag. "There's more room to get out at your side, it's all wrong."

"Calm down, Sharpay." Ryan said, and he shushed her, trying to calm her down. "Tell me, where are you going with this?"

"You're too close to the red car, I've told you already!" Sharpay whined, and it was hard for Ryan to understand her, when she was behaving like this.

"No I'm not, there's perfect distance between my car and the red.." He tried to explained, but he was cut off..

"But it's not the same!" Sharpay screamed, probably the loudest she had ever done. She ripped out her bag of Ryan's grasp and threw it, as hard as she could into the front window, but it did not break. She kept screaming, and screaming, and screaming, and then it finally hit Ryan.

Sharpay lived in routine, sorta, at least for most of the time. One little detail changed could mess up her whole cycle, and she wouldn't be able to function. Small changes bothered her like crazy, and she couldn't handle them, Ryan knew that. Another thing he knew was, that he had to move the car a few inches to the right to get Sharpay's day back on track. It was like, he always parked the same place, and Sharpay had gotten used to that, and when he parked the same place, he also had to park the same way in her world, so he did. He inserted his key and drove out of his parking spot, so that he could park it a few inches to the right. After having done that, he turned off the engine again, and now Sharpay could get out without a word, and so could he.

Small detail changes would annoy Sharpay, and with her handicap it made it easy for her to notice details, that regular people wouldn't have noticed. Ryan remember one time in home room, he always sat in front of his sister, and he always used to sit straight up, but one day he tilted his head a little to the side, and Sharpay totally flipped. The other students just thought, that she was a spoiled brat, as she was the rich ice queen, but Ryan knew better. He knew the real Sharpay - all of her.

The doors of East High opened 5 minutes later, and all the students immediately looked up to see who it was, it was pure reflex for them to do so, and when they saw it was the ice queen and her brother, they stepped to the side at once to let them through. Sharpay didn't even have to yell 'move' anymore, and to be telling the truth she hated doing that. She wasn't like the character she was portraying, she was a very sweet girl. She hated yelling 'move', because she didn't find it very convincing herself, she felt people could see right through her, when she did it, and she was glad she didn't have to anymore.

In the other end of the hallway, Troy Bolton and Chad Danforth were having a conversation, when they noticed who entered the school.

"Look who hasn't melted during the spring break, Troy." Chad told his bestfriend in a lower voice, so others wouldn't hear it. He wasn't afraid of Sharpay, but he didn't want to make a scene, so he kept it as quiet as possible. He made a discrete gesture towards Sharpay, that only Troy could notice.

"It surprises me as much as you, Chad." Troy said and let out a short, but very mean laughter. "Look how she's strutting down the hallways of this school like she owns the place, it's d..."

But Troy didn't get to finish his sentence, something surprised him. It was the look on Sharpay's face, he'd never noticed it before. When someone was called an ice queen, you often expected their facial expression to have no emotion what so ever, sure she seemed to have no emotions, when you saw her from a distance, but up close like Troy saw her now, as she walked past, her eyes gave her away. The eyes had emotion, a lot of it indeed, the one emotion that could tear Troy's heart out, it was clear and pure sadness. What could have made Sharpay Evans sad?

With Sharpay out of sight, Troy turned around to face Chad and said; "I don't think, she's the ice queen everybody assume she is, and I think I wanna find out, what her deal is."

"What are you talking about, Troy?" Chad yelled, now that Sharpay was out of sight, it was safe to get loud again. It was clear, that he wanted to argue "She could make even the snowman Frost seem warm."

"She is not icy, I don't believe that she is." Troy argued back, his voice also raised, and Chad was taken a little aback by that. He wasn't used to Troy raising his voice. "I saw emotion in her eyes, and I think there's something behind the facade!"

"Whatever, dude, just stay away from her. Ice.Cold.Brr.Freezing, ok?" Chad said with a bored undertone, he didn't really care about what, his best friend had just told him about a the girl he once shared everything with. Without saying anything else, he bounced down the hallway and at the end of, he turned in a different direction than Sharpay had.

**IRBS**

_Today is today, and tomorrow is just another today._

History, one of the subjects Ryan and Sharpay didn't have together. Sharpay had seated herself in the back corner, where she hoped people wouldn't notice her, and they usually didn't. Well, they did, but they always left her alone, because she was the ice queen, and they feared her.

Today something different happened, though. Troy Bolton sat down next to her, much to her surprise. It was Troy Bolton, East High's basketball star and a highstanding member in the anti-Sharpay Evans club, why would he sit down next to her?

Now he tried to do something even more surprising, he tried to make eyecontact with him. Sharpay made a great effort to ignore him, she turned her back to him and stared out of the window, but that didn't stop him from trying. She knew it, she could feel his eyes on her back, she could always feel, when people were looking at her. It was uncomfortable feeling to feel someone's eyes on your back.

"I know I'm much more interesting than your history book, but stop staring! You have to use the set of eyes you have for the rest of you life!" She had hoped, that if she snapped at him, he'd face the other way and leave her alone, but no such luck! His eyes were still on her. She turned around to face him and gave him a deathglare, the one she'd become quite good at performing over the years. "Why are you staring at me?"

"I'm trying to figure you out." He simply said, as if it had been the obvious answer to Sharpay's question. "You don't fool me no more."

Sharpay's mouth formed an 'o', as she nodded her head, taking in this new piece of information. He was on to her, that was it! And Ryan, that jerk, had said you couldn't notice it, but he had lied, and she could just kill him right about then. She felt all cold and nervous now, Troy possibly knew her secret, how could she get him off her case?

"I like marshmallows!" She blurted out, and after that she had to hide her face in her hands, because of the embarrassment. She tended to be very random and say the weirdest things, when she was nervous. She liked that quality in herself, because even though she felt like dropping dead in the moment, Ryan had told her it was normal for people to do that, and she liked the feeling of being somewhat normal.

"You like marshmallows?" Troy repeated her sentence, his brows raised and he looked like a big question.

"Yeah, they're delicious. Don't you like them?" She had decided to go with it, mostly because she couldn't stop talking, but also because she loved marshmallows and loved sharing that with the world. "If not, you should! They're really yummy, if you stick them in the microwave for a tiny minute, because then they taste like candyfloss, when they come out. You can get them with different flavors, like liqourice, which is my favorite. You should really try it."

Troy was about to open his mouth to say something, but he didn't get to do so, because the teacher had just entered the class room 10 minutes late, not that it surprised anybody, the teacher's motto had always been 'better late than never', and he seemed to live by it.

The teacher sat down by his desk, as he said; "Ok, so here's how it's gonna go from now on and for the rest of the semester: I come in, you shush, I teach, and we all go home wanting to kill ourselves. How does that work for you?"

The teacher never seemed to enjoy his work, it was more of a 'has to' instead of a 'want to', and it rubbed off on his students, which wasn't that good a thing. Not that they were excited about it anyways.

"You won't be doing much in this first class, I almost hope you all survive!" He continued, "We're gonna kick this first class after the break off with a history project! Sounds great? Good, so it's gonna work like this; you're gonna work with the person sitting next to you, and you're getting 5 weeks to do it. If you don't think that's enough, then complain to the door, because I couldn't care a less. You can pick any historic thing for your project, as long as it can be found in the books. This class will be all about talking with your partners about, what you wanna do, and hopefully you'll agree on something. Now get to work, I can't wait to give you an F!"

Ok, Sharpay sat next to window, so on one of her sides, there wouldn't be anybody to work with, and on the other side there would be - Troy Bolton, unfortunately.

"Teacher!" Sharpay exclaimed, as her hand flew in the air. The teacher nodded to tell her to go on, and she did. "Can't I work with the plant on your desk, that hasn't been watered since we all first started in High School? I really don't wanna work with Troy!"

"Tough break, kiddo. You have to!" The teacher said coldly, he couldn't care less about Sharpay or any of his other students. "Oh, and may I add, that you can go anywhere to discuss your project, that way I don't have to look at you!"

At least they could leave the classroom, that was always something. Sharpay stormed out, almost forgetting her bag in the process, but because of her handicap she couldn't for some weird reason. She hurried down the hallway towards her locker, and Troy followed suit. Sharpay had planned on taking off, ditching the rest of the class, but with Troy there she felt kinda guilty for wanting to do so. It was really strange that way.

"Bolton, are you following me?" She said, as she stopped by her locker and opened it.

Troy scratched the back of his head. What a weird question? "Of course, you're my partner. We need to think of a project together."

Sharpay sniggered loudly, how dumb could he be? She wasn't gonna work with him! First of all, he was one of the co-founders of the anti-Sharpay Evans club. Secondly, he was a jerk with total disregard for other people's feelings, it was so clear to everybody. Third on her list would have to be, that she knew for a fact, that he picked on the nerds and such at school, and if he'd pick on nerds, he'd pick on Sharpay too, if he ever found out he secret.

Let's take this from Troy's point of view. Yes, he was a co-founder of the club, but that was only because he thought, Sharpay was a total mean bitch until today. And yes, he sometimes disregarded other people's feelings, but he was 16 now, and he was maturing. And yes, he picked on nerds from time to time, but that was because of a simple thing called group pressure. He knew these were all excuses, but as said before; he was maturing.

"No, no, no, no, no! There is no we in all of this. You!" She corrected him. She took out her Bon Jovi: Greatest Hits cd from her locker, and slowly began making her way to the exit. Troy followed right behind. The teacher had said anywhere, so why not take him up on his word? "You clearly burn to do this project, unlike me, so I think you should do it alone. Buh-bye!"

But Troy did not leave, even though Sharpay wanted him to. He had some suggestions, and he wanted to share them with her. "How about we do our project on the Titanic?"

"The Titanic isn't a historic thing." Sharpay said, trying to seem cold, maybe he'd go away? She was still walking, and so was he, and they were outside now. He kept following, even though she did not want him to.

"It was believed to be unsinkable and it sank!" He argued, and he was now up by side, wanting eye contact when he spoke with her, but she wasn't giving it to him. She hated eye contact - another part of her handicap, she wasn't able to look people in the eyes, while talking to them, it was uncomfortable for her.

"The Titanic didn't sink." She said, a matter of factly. He didn't know, who she was trying to kid? Of course it sank, and Sharpay knew that, she was just still trying to get rid of him. "It changed its destination to Atlantis instead of New York! Lucky people onboard, I've always wanted to see that lost continent. And those people who died, well that was just because, they didn't have the style to get in game."

Troy groaned with frustrations, what was with this girl? Why was she acting so weird, was this what Sharpay Evans was really like? "It did not change it's destination, Sharpay! Thousands of people died."

"It's not my problem, they didn't get in the game." She simply said, before running off and getting into Mr. Paperblock. She was gonna wait there for Ryan to come, so she could go home. She knew, he only had one class left, so it couldn't be long. She just wanted to get the hell out of there, and she wanted to go home.

Troy was standing still in the spot, where Sharpay had left him, and she was now out of sight. He was about to follow Sharpay's example and take off (unlike her, he could go home), when he noticed something lying on the ground. It was a book, and he figured that it belonged to Sharpay, and that she'd dropped it, when she bounced off.

Troy bent down to pick up the book and read the title;

_'Aspergers Syndrome, So What?'_

_Ok, so I know there was a long delay, and I apologize for that, but my computer didn't work, so I couldn't write on this fic. Luckily it works now! I hope you'll all enjoy this, and hope you'll review me. I know I'd write a little about Sharpay's reaction, but that will happen later on. I imagine her telling it all to Troy, when sometime confronts her about the book and they become somewhat friends, but I don't know yet. I hope this was all worth the wait. I love you all, especially if you review. Please? Anyway, thanks for reading, and again; review._

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_


	4. Flashback What A Feeling

_Hola. My God, that was sad. You're probably thinking, what is she talking about? I'm talking about the few reviews I got, I mean you can do better than that. And I still request, that you review instead of just adding the story to your favorites and alert-list. It's not that I don't appreciate you doing that, really I do, but I need your reviews to go on, and yeah.. To those of you who did review; thank you very much, I love you._

_**Disclaimer;**__ I still don't own High School Musical, no change since the last chapter._

_**Dedication;**__ I'd like to dedicate this chapter to __**Stessa**__, because she takes me for the person I am. I've told her my deepest secret, and despite that she's still here, and she's still my friend. I can honestly say, that I love her. And she's the mother (so am I) of our baby kangaroo, Steve, and soon Steve's babysister, Nadine. That, and she reviews my fics all the time, and I appreciate that. And she also supporsts me in all my fics, and she always encourages me to keep going and go for it. So thank you, sweetie, for being the person, that you are._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**3. Flashback (What A Feeling)**

The bell rang. Finally! Ryan felt like he'd been waiting for it to do so forever, he needed to get to Sharpay, he was sure she'd found something to fall apart over. That was Sharpay for ya, ever since she'd found out about her handicap.

_**Flashback**_

_"W-what? Can you repeat that, plea-please?" A 13 year old Sharpay stuttered, her eyes wide, screaming with disbelief. She couldn't believe, what her own brother, Ryan Evans, had just told her. She had a handicap?_

_"You, uhm you, you have a handicap called Asperger's Syndrome." Ryan said with closed eyes, he hated having to tell his sister this, but if he didn't no-one would, and then she'd wander around for the rest of her life feeling like a freak, and he couldn't bear that. While he said it, he almost wished, he could take her place, that he could be the one with the handicap instead of her, it wasn't fair to her._

_Sharpay didn't say anything this time, she'd found a 'useful' way to not deal with it, she was staring straight into her pink wall. It was like she was in another universe, Ryan tried to wave a hand infront of her, trying to get her back to reality, but it didn't work. She was gone!_

_Ryan left the room to go get something. What, Sharpay did not know, she didn't even register him leave, so she was surprised, when she finally dozed back to reality, that he wasn't in her room anymore. That was a good thing, because now she could react to this alone, without the pressure of a concerned brother. Just reacting, nothing more than that. And she felt like she couldn't really handle anymore than that, had Ryan still been there, and she was gonna react while hearing him reassure her, that everything was gonna be ok, she was simply gonna break down. It would be too hard to handle._

_She screamed at the top of her lungs, a real heart stabbing scream. It would have hurt Ryan, if he'd been there. She screamed again, and again, and again, and yet again. Right now, that seemed like all she could do. Maybe she could scream the handicap away? And again, and again, and again._

_"What, what, what? What's the matter, Shar?" Ryan yelled, as he ran back into Sharpay's room with an orange book in his hand._

_And again!_

_"Nothing, it's just..." Sharpay trailed off, finally calmed down after all the screaming. "I'm a freak!"_

_She sat down on her bed and patted on the bare spot next to her, indicating for Ryan to sit down next to her. She didn't want him there, because then she couldn't react like she wanted to as before, but at the same time she really needed him in all this._

_"You're not a freak!" Ryan yelled again, and Sharpay was taken aback a little, she hadn't expected him to yell, she'd never seen him like this. "So stop saying that you are, I'm sick of it, I won't hear it ever again, understood? If you say it again, I swear I'll slap you."_

_"But... If I'm not a freak, then what the hell am I then?" Sharpay said, looking down on her hands on her knees. How was she gonna get through this? Ryan didn't reply to her question, he silently handed her the ugly orange thing. She looked him in the eyes, questions shining in her brown pools. "What's this, Ry? Seriously, reading your diary won't get me in a better mood right now, partly because I've already read it. And orange? Couldn't you have chosen a better colour?"_

_"Stop mocking me, when I'm trying to help you!" Ryan said, trying to stay calm, because that would be the best way to help his sister through this. "This is a book, if you wanna learn about your handicap. It's called; 'Aspergers Syndrome, So What?'"_

_Sharpay looked down on the book in her hands, she didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Cry because this was always happening to her, and now her brother had found a way to let the whole world know, that she was an unnormal freak! Laugh because this was so surreal and obviously a dream. She pinched herself on the right arm, it hurt, so it wasn't a dream like she thought. Cry, it was then._

_"So now you want me to advertize this sickness or what?" Sharpay asked, the tears slowly forming in her eyes and afterwards taking the journey down her cheek._

_"Nobody said you have to show this book to everybody." Ryan said with a semi-raised voice, he was getting rather frustrated with his sister. Was it meant to be this hard? "And you don't have a sickness, you have a handicap."_

_Sharpay snorted. "Like that's a step-up?"_

"_Sharpay, stop speaking like this to me, I'm trying to help you, I'm not the enemy!" Ryan had gone to yelling, and Sharpay was scared. "Ok, I know this is not fun, and I know you must feel like a freak, but you're not. So you need to calm down, and together we're gonna find a way to get you through this, ok?"_

"_You're absolutely right." Sharpay admitted, finally giving the 'victim-act' a rest. She leaned in to hug her brother. "I just don't know how to."_

"_I know, I know." Ryan whispered in her ear, "But we'll find a way, I promise."_

_**End of Flashback**_

He was right, like always, he found Sharpay crying inside Mr. Paperblock. He entered the car and gave his sister a very saying look, and she understood.

"It-it's no-nothing." She stuttered through her cries. "It's just, all the students at East High think I'm icy, because that's the role I'm portraying, and they call me things because of that, I know it shouldn't touch me, because they're not really talking about me, but it still hurts, for on some level it is me, isn't it? Anyway, now one person, who probably hates me most of all, is beginning to see through the facade, and I can't let him find out."

"Who is it?" Ryan questioned, he didn't see the problem in finding someone new to confide in, but he was gonna be there for his sister, he knew how much this issue meant to her!

"Troy Bolton!" She replied with a sigh, and thought about earlier, when he tried and failed to discuss their history project with her. "We're partenered up in History for a project, we can decide the theme ourselves, but I don't wanna be partnered up with someone who hates me, and who's quite possibly on to me!"

"Sharpay, how hard can it be? Just don't tell him anything personal." Ryan adviced, taking brushing some of Sharpay's hair away from her face. "What's your theme?"

"He suggested Titanic, but I shot him down." Sharpay said, still thinking back on earlier. Truth was, she loved Titanic, but the ice queen loving something? Not possible.

"But you love the Titanic, it's one of those things, y'know." Ryan tried to reason with her, though he knew she wouldn't really listen. She would pretend to, but she never took it in. "Why didn't you tell him."

"That would be personal."

End of the discussion.

Ryan started the car and drove them home, where it was gonna be an interesting day.

"Ry?" Sharpay asked, as they pulled up into the driveway at their big house, "Remember what you used to tell me, when I would fall apart over anything?"

"You still do." Ryan teased, and she smacked him on the arm, "But yeah, I do remember. Today is today, and tomorrow is just another today. It always helped, didn't it?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

_**Flashback**_

_High School sophomore, Ryan Evans, entered the girls bathroom (let's call it that) at East High, where he could hear sobs, and where it was rumoured, that the ice queen was crying. No-one dared to check it out, only Ryan as he knew the real Sharpay Evans._

"_Sharpay?" He called out to check, if Sharpay was indeed in there, possibly crying._

"_Ry?" Sharpay responded. It was like Marco Polo with them, quite effective._

_Sharpay appeared from one of the toilet booths, her eyes all puffed and red from crying. She ran into her brother's arm and hugged him for dear life. "Oh, Ry."_

"_What's going on?" Ryan asked, as he led them as far from the door they could come. They sat down on the cold floor, their backs against the wall. "Why are you crying."_

"_The ethnic popcorn talked trash about me again." Sharpay revealed, leaning her head on Ryan's shoulder. He couldn't help but chuckle. 'Ethnic popcorn', it was hilarious._

"_What did Chad say this time?" Ryan asked again, concerned about his younger sister by 5 minutes._

"_Same old, but it still hurts!" Sharpay said, still slightly crying. She watched a creepy crawler make its way across the floor, she was too upset to even flinch, as she normally would, when spotting one of these small fella's. "You know, when you introduce spiders to your shoe? You should really try to do that to Chad. You should go up to him and say; 'hey, poodle. This is Ernie and this is Ted', and then you should smack him down, first with Ted and then with Ernie."_

_Ryan shook his head at his sister. "My shoes are not named Ernie and Ted! So what did he specifically say this time, Shar?"_

"_That with my icy-self, he'd much rather live on the North Pole, because that would be less cold." Sharpay said, still watching the spider, that she had named 'Itsy Bitsy'. "I know it shouldn't bother me, because it's not really me, they're trashing, but it just upsets me so damn much, that I don't even stop to think about that. Everytime I hear them talk about me, I'm like 'ok, they've figured me out, I'm a freak', and everytime I hear them talk about me, I wanna cry my heart out and throw in the towel."_

"_Today is today, and tomorrow is just another today." Ryan suddenly said, after a 10 minutes silent. Class had begun again, Ryan heard the bell, but he didn't care about that, all he cared about right now was his sister._

"_Big bro, say what?" Sharpay exclaimed, was Ryan losing it? It had nothing to do with their subject, so he had to explain it for her to understand._

"_Today is only one day, and you know how they always say, you can always get through a day? So today is today, and then you have to think of tomorrow as another today, and that's how you get through every day." Ryan explained, as Sharpay had silently requested. "Today is today, and tomorrow is just another today."_

"_Itsy Bitsy, oh no, Itsy Bitsy is gone!" Sharpay said, completely ignoring what Ryan had said, when she noticed the crawler was gone. "Where is she?"_

_Ryan raised his brows. He was trying to cheer her up, and then she wouldn't even listen. "Did you even hear, what I said, Shar?"_

"_Yeah, and I don't want a goat." Sharpay said, as she got up from the floor and walked to the door to go back to hallways, back to being the ice queen._

_Typical Sharpay, Ryan thought, always caring only about herself and never listening or caring about him._

_Before Sharpay left the bathroom, she looked back at Ryan and said; "Today is today, and tomorrow is just another today. Thanks, Ry."_

_And now she was gone, and Ryan admitted to himself, he had been wrong. She did listen, and she did care. She was just... special, if only she'd realize._

_**End of Flashback**_

"I think those words every 10 minutes of everyday." Sharpay admitted, as they both got out of the car and went into their house.

**IRBS**

Troy Bolton visited his bestfriend that afternoon to tell him about a plan, he had. He wanted to get to know Sharpay, especially after that book she'd drop. He knew Chad wouldn't like his decision, but he'd appreciate that Troy told him about it.

Troy had barely knocked on the door, before Chad ripped it open and hurried him inside. Chad had been weird today, Troy noticed, but chose not to comment on it, he didn't wanna start an argument.

"I thought of another Sharpay joke, you wanna hear it?" Chad said, as they walked up the stairs to go to Chad's room. Troy nodded, again because he didn't wanna argue. "We should begin to invite Sharpay to our parties, because I like my beers cool."

Chad laughed so hard, like what he'd said had been hilarious. It wasn't, it was mean according to Troy, and he wasn't gonna do that to Sharpay anymore, she really was a nice girl, as far as he knew.

They entered Chad's room, with him still laughing. Chad sat down on his bed, but Troy chose to stand up, he'd be going soon anyways, he just needed to fill Chad in on his plan, and then he'd be on his way to Sharpay's place to discuss the book he'd found with her.

"Look, Chad. This isn't easy for me, cos I know how you feel, but I've decided to get to know Sharpay Evans as more than the ice queen." Troy told his best friend straight out, there was no beating around the bush, and Troy could see that Chad took it hard.

"You honestly can't be serious." Chad exclaimed, his facial expression screaming with sceptism. Sharpay was icy, and that was it, there was nothing deeper to her than that. "She's ice cold, man."

"I really don't think so." Troy defended the blonde ice queen of East High, that he honestly didn't know, but he felt it was his right somehow. "But you wanna know, what I think, Chad? I think you're the problem here."

"Yeah?" Chad questioned, as he got up from his bed, and took a couple steps closer to his best friend and looked down on him, giving him one of his death glares. "How so?"

"Well, for a starter you're too closed minded to see, that there might be more to Sharpay. It's like you've got something personal against her, I don't know what, but it seems impossible, because everyday you claim you don't know her, and that you never wanna know her, so I don't see how you can really judge. I think your hair is clouding your ability to see, Mike Standley." Troy said, he hadn't flinched by Chad's now threatening appearence, but he had raised his voice.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Chad yelled, raising his hands a little. Troy knew, that his best friend really wanted to hit him right now, it was one of his trademarks.

"Try and look her in the eyes, Chad, they're not icy!" Troy yelled too, he wanted to hit Chad now, just as much as Chad wanted to hit him. He noted to himself to throw something, when he got home to get rid of this anger, he had towards his best friend right now. "They're filled with sadness, if you look close enough, you'll see it."

Chad lowered his hands, much to Troy's surprise. He didn't say anything at first, he simply turned around, went back to his bed and sat down. Now he spoke, and his voice was cold; "If you stare directly at the sun, you'll go blind."

"Whatever, dude. I'm not having this argument with you anymore." Troy said, as calmly as he could and finished with a sigh. He headed for the door, and right before he left, he added. "What is it, you have against her anyways?"

You could never begin to imagine, Troy, Chad thought to himself, as he'd just watched his friend leave his room, and then he began thinking back on the day, he started to resent his former best friend...

_**Flashback**_

_Why wasn't she answering his calls? Had he done something wrong, that he just didn't know about yet? Why wouldn't she talk to him? Why was she ignoring him? Why? Why? Why?_

_13 year old Chad Danforth had been wondering those questions to himself for days now. Last week he and Sharpay were best friends, she was bubbly and fun to be around like always, but now she'd changed. She was ignoring him completely, she wouldn't talk to him or answer his calls. He hadn't talked to her since their last music session, they had been planning to start a band, and Sharpay had been excited about it, but now she wouldn't talk to him. It was odd._

_Chad was lying on top of his bed in his room, all stretched out. He'd just been trying to call Sharpay, but she hadn't answered her phone, so he'd tried again and still no answer. After that he'd decided to give up. He simply didn't know what to do._

_Mrs. Danforth walked past his room, she stopped in his doorway and looked very concerned at her son. He and Sharpay had been friends forever, and to see her hurting him like that, was more than a mother could bear. She wanted them to be friends again, and then she wanted a very serious discussion with a certain ms. Evans._

_"Try calling her again?" Mrs. Danforth suggested, letting her presence be known by her son, who looked up at her and smiled weakly and half-hearted._

_"I've already tried calling her, she's not picking up her phone!" Chad said, and his mother had never in her life heard him sound so defeated, it was breaking her heart._

_"I know, that was why I said again." She said, offering him a smile to cheer him up, not much help though. "Or try her home phone, or Ryan's phone. He'll make sure you get to her."_

_Chad thought about it for a moment... His mom was absolutely right, if he called Ryan, he would most definitely get to Sharpay, Ryan would make sure of that. And he really needed to speak to his best friend, to find out what he'd possibly done wrong. He'd made his decision, he was calling Ryan._

_"You're right, mom." He smiled, for the first time that day from the heart. "Thanks."_

_"What are moms for?" His mom said, smiling. She disappeared from his doorway, and he grabbed his cellphone and dialled Ryan Evans' number._

_"Hello?" He could hear Ryan's voice on the other end. Yes, he thought to himself, finally I'm gonna talk to Sharpay._

_"Hi Ry. It's Chad!" He greeted, trying to sound cheery, as if he wasn't bothered with Sharpay's act these days, and he did a fair good job, if you asked him. "Can I speak to Sharpay, please?"_

_"Sure." He heard Ryan say, "But why don't you just call her cell?"_

_"I tried that already, she isn't picking up her phone." Chad admitted, praying that Ryan wouldn't hang up on him for his sister's sake. "I need to know, what her deal is."_

_He hadn't expected him to hang up, but still much to his surprise, Ryan replied; "I got it. I'll go find her right now. Hang on!"_

_Chad spent his 'hanging on' time on moving from 'standing on his back' to sitting straight up in his bed. He'd been waiting about 5 minutes, when he heard Sharpay's voice on the other line._

_"Shags here, who's there?"_

_Chad smiled brightly, when he heard her voice for the first time in days. What he was feeling right now was indescribable, she was his best friend for God's sake. It took some time to take all those feelings in, but he finally spoke; "Shaggy, it's so good to hear your voice."_

_"Oh, it's you.." Chad's face fell. 'Oh, it's you'? Did she seriously just say that? And what happened to the usual happy tone in her voice, where had that gone?_

_"Yeah, me." He snapped, he didn't mean to, but by the way she had said 'oh, it's you', it had made him so mad. "Why haven't you been answering my calls, Shags?"_

_"Just didn't feel like it!" He heard his best friend's voice say with the coldest voice, he had ever heard her use. Something was serious the matter with her, but what?"_

_"Why are you like this?" He asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this. She couldn't just shit all over him for days, and when he finally got in touch with her act like this, it was not far. He wanted an explanation and an apology. "Why haven't you been answering my calls, why haven't you spoken to me in days, why have you been ignoring me? Have I done something wrong, I don't know about or something? What?"_

_"No, I just don't wanna be friends with you anymore."_

_**End of Flashback**_

And those were the last words Sharpay ever spoke to him. He'd tried to talk to her the next day at school, because he'd figured it was just one of her mood swings, but it wasn't at all, it was for real. That was when his grudge towards her started, and no-one knew this except for him and Sharpay. No-one knew, that the two of them had been best friends either, and Chad wasn't keen on sharing that information, because in his eyes she was a pure and total completely bitch. End of story. Nothing, Troy had to offer him of information about Sharpay not being an ice queen, could change that fact.

He and Sharpay had been over as friends for little over 3 years, and they would never ever be friends again. He had sworn himself that.

**IRBS**

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Ryan Evans was interrupted in the middle of his favorite tv-show that afternoon by the knock of the door, he was the only one to open it. His mom was at work untill pretty late, so was his stepdad, and Sharpay was simply just too lazy to go all the way downstairs to open the door. It had to be him then.

He got up from his favorite chair and dragged himself all the way into the hallway, where he opened the door and was surprised to come face to face with Troy. He stuck his head outside and glanced to his right, all the names did say Evans as the lastname, well except for their stepdad (details), so what could Troy Bolton possibly be doing at his house?

"What the hell are you doing here, Bolton?" Ryan spoke his mind, as always. It was like an Evans trademark.

"Can I come in?" Troy asked, ignoring Ryan's question. Or not so much ignored, he'd just prefer to discuss this inside, instead of outside, because the Evans' obviously didn't want people to know about this, so it was in their best interests, he asked that question and ignored Ryan.

"You didn't answer my question!" Ryan said, crossing his arms. How rude to avoid his question.

Troy gave him a saying look, and Ryan stepped aside and let the jock come inside. Ryan showed him into a more home-y room, more specifically the room where the staircase was. He stopped in that room, and so did Troy. He squinted his eyes at him. "So what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to Sharpay about this." Troy said, as he pulled the orange book out of his rather large pocket.

Ryan flinched, didn't Sharpay know how to be careful with this? Normally she wouldn't drop the book, normally she wouldn't even bring it with her in public, but something had changed it seemed.

After a few minutes of just staring at the book, Ryan finally spoke; "How did you get this book?"

"Sharpay dropped it, when she ran off after brushing off every single on of my suggestion." Troy explained, and Ryan nodded along, he knew about that discussion, his sister had told him all about it. He was about to open his mouth and speak, but Troy wasn't done talking. "And I got to reading a little bit. It's a very interesting book, y'know. I read it in no time, and after I thought to myself, this book resembles Sharpay Evans at a few points." Ryan swallowed a lump, when Troy said this, Sharpay had been right. "And then I got to thinking again, and Sharpay has this handicap called Aspergers Syndrome, doesn't she?"

Ryan closed his eyes, hating himself for doing this, but nevertheless he nodded his head and spoke the word 'yes'.

"She is up in her room, if you wanna talk to her about this." Ryan offered, mentally kicking himself again, because he knew Sharpay wouldn't want that, but he thought it would be good for her to have someone else to talk to about this also.

"I was just about to ask." Troy said, smiling slightly. "Thanks, man."

He spun around and ran up the stairs to go find a certain ms. Evans' room. It all went very fast, and he heard Ryan's yell over his shoulder, as he turned around the corner at the end of the stairs. "Don't tell my sister, I sent you." Yeah, like that was what he was gonna start the conversation with.

He reached Sharpay's room at the end of the hallway upstairs, with the book in a tight grip, he knocked on the door and heard a faint 'come in', and he did as told.

Once inside, Sharpay turned her head and saw to her surprise Troy Bolton standing there, he held up the book and she gasped. How did he get to that?

As if he'd read her mind, he said; "You kinda dropped it after school today." Sharpay's mouth formed an O, and she slapped her forehead. Troy felt bad, she had really thought hard to keep this a secret, but he had to say this. "You have Aspergers Syndrome, don't you?"

"A little bit, yeah." Sharpay said, quietly, as she stepped towards Troy untill she was right in front of him. "How did you find out?"

"I read the book, and I don't see what you have to be ashamed of." Troy said, truthfully. He didn't think this syndrome made her handicapped, he thought it made her different and special, mostly special. Didn't she feel the same way?

"You don't? It's everything, really." Sharpay screamed, as she threw her hands up in the air. There was one of those moodswings. "And now you know, and you'll tell everybody at school, that I'm a freak."

"You don't want people to know, so I won't tell, I swear." Troy promised, and smiled kindly at Sharpay, who eyed him suspiciously and took a few steps back.

"I don't believe you, I know you hate me." Sharpay wanted to argue, not that she was gonna get anywhere with that, Troy had his mind on not.

"I don't know you, there's a huge difference." He reasoned, but he got the sense, that Sharpay was a freak.

"Why are you even here, Bolton?" Sharpay said, still trying to argue. "I mean, isn't that against the rules on the Wildcats basketball team to try and befriend the ice queen?"

"So what if I wanna be your friend? They don't have on say in that matter." Troy said, just as calm as before. "And that's the truth, Sharpay, I wanna be your friend. And I want us to meet at the library tomorrow to work on our history project, where we'll work together peacefully, because we're newly friends."

"Why do you wanna be my friend, anyway?"

"Why not?"

"I'm a freak."

"I'd much rather say, you're special."

Those were very beautiful words, from a guy she thought hated her, if only she could believe those words, but she didn't. She wasn't special, she was a freak.

After a long childish 'I'm a freak' vs. 'You're special' argument, Sharpay finally accepted his friendship and got her book back, when Troy left after giving her a really arkward hug. What was to be expected? They were 'newly friends'.

_That was chapter 3. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm sorry if it sucked towards the end, but I didn't really feel like writing, I knew I had to though, because I had to review soon, so I fought myself through it. And to the person who asked, how Chad and Sharpay stopped being friends, I hope this was good enough for you. I didn't really know, what Sharpay should say to get him so mad at her, so I just kept it simple, and I hope it worked. Now, there's nothing left to do but review, so please do :). Ready, set, review ;b. But before you review, I wanna say, that I'll soon be going updating crazy on ya, here's how so; I'll soon begin working on the next chapter of Twist of Love with stessa, and I've got a bunch of ideas in my head, so it'll be here soon, I'm working on a one-shot called you are, which is a Sharpayx(you decide, as the guy's name is never mentioned), and I'm also working on a new story called 'Breaking The Circle', which will be a Sharpay centric fic, but it will also be a Chadpay, and I'm really excited about posting it soon, because I have a feeling, that it's gonna be great, it'll probably first be posted after this fic and Twist of Love are ended, I'm sorry. Now you may review :)_

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_


	5. It's Not Physical

_Hi everybody. Thank you so much for the reviews, they are very much appreciated. In chapter 2 made a mistake and deleted a part of the chapter, only one line though, I just thought I'd mention it. I tried to correct it a thousand times, but it wouldn't let me so I gave up. Anyway, on with the story._

_**Disclaimer;**__ I don't own HSM :(_

_**Dedication;**__ My mom, as she is the most important person in my life, and she's so proud of me, no matter what I do. I love her to bits._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**4. It's Not Physical**

2 weeks had past since Troy and Sharpay decided on trying to be friends. It went good, Sharpay hated to admit it, but it did, and she was glad to have a friend, even though she'd fought so much not to have any, the feeling was amazing. Troy was a great friend, and he knew her secret and accepted her for, what she was, and that was something she wasn't so used to. She only experienced it from family, because they had to, and from Chad when they were friends back in the days.

They were sitting in the library, working on their history project on The Titanic. Sharpay had agreed to work with that, but she hadn't told Troy, that she knew practically everything, there was to know about The Titanic, it was one of her many talents. And why would she tell him anyway? Then all she had to do was fill him in, on what she knew about the subject, and then they'd be done with their research, and then the rest of the stuff would be done really quickly, for that was some she was good at also. But speaking in front of a crowd, when it was definite eyes would be on her, not so much.

When Troy asked her questions about the ship, she'd play dumb and pretend, she didn't know a thing about it. She really liked him, she might even like him like him, but was that possible after only two weeks? And could she like someone with her, y'know disabilities? She didn't know these things, and she wasn't very good at social things. One of the many flaws, that came with her stupid handicap.

"How many knots per hour?" Troy asked out of nowhere, pulling her out of her thoughts. She gave him a very questionable look, so he repeated. "How many knots per hour?"

Sharpay knew the answer, but she didn't wanna reply the truth, so she decided to play dumb. "I don't know, I can barely tie my shoes, so I'm guessing not so many?"

"Sharpay, focus!" Troy said, and she knew, he was trying to be as patient as possible with her, but that he was also getting a little annoyed. She had that effect on people.

She loved it, when he said her name, and she got lost in his gorgeous blue eyes. Never in a million years had she imagined, she could be friends with Troy Bolton, and that she would slowly begin to fall for him. She hated being the one feeling like this, as amazing the feeling of liking him so much was though.

"I am. And why don't you read your way to it?" Sharpay suggested, offering him a cute smile. He smiled back, he always did, and he had become so nice to her, it was unbelievable.

His friends hated the fact, that he was now friends with the ice queen, they both knew that, but he didn't care about that fact one bit. Sharpay did, she felt bad about it, no matter how many times Troy assured her, that he did not care about his friends opinion on their friendship, the only thing that mattered was how they felt. And if they wanted to be friends, they should go right ahead.

"I'm trying to, but it doesn't seem to be in this book." Troy said, smacking the book closed. He'd finally given up, after he'd read the pages through so many times. Sharpay followed his example, and she put both of their books on top of the other Titanic books, they had borrowed. Troy sat in his chair and watched Sharpay curiously, and she smiled uncomfortable to him. "How about you tell me something about your handicap?"

"Why? You've read the book, haven't you?" Sharpay replied his question with a question. Truth was, she'd never even thought of opening the book, so she didn't know anything about it, other than what Ryan had told her, so if he didn't know himself, she couldn't help him.

"Yeah, but it wasn't exactly a book on Sharpay Evans, y'know!" He pointed out, sure he had read the book and everything, and he understood the handicap in some parts, but he didn't know, what the handicap did for her, because it was different with every person. It was like that with people without a diagnosis as well, all of them were different too.

"Well, I can't help you, Troy." She said, as she tried to avoid all eye contact with him. She grabbed a book from the pile again, and began pretending to read it to get off the subject of her handicap. She hated it, and she wished she hadn't gotten it, she wished Ryan had gotten it instead of her. It wasn't that she wished this on Ryan, but he'd told her, that his guess was that, she'd gotten it from their dad, because it was genetic this thing, and that 9 out of 10 with Aspergers Syndrome were boys, so why did she have to be the 1? It was ugh! The odds had been on her side, but she was still the twin born with this diagnosis. Still pretending to read, she added; "I haven't read it."

"You haven't read it?" Troy repeated, staring at her in disbelief. "So 3 years ago you were diagnosed with the handicap Aspergers Syndrome, and you got a book with all this information about it, so you could understand it better, understand yourself better, and you didn't even bother to read it?"

Sharpay slammed the book shut, this pretending to read thing didn't work, and she sent him the evil eyes and yelled; "Ok, so I have issues, alright? I have a hard time understanding the things I read, so I didn't wanna bother trying, ok? And maybe that was stupid to this day, but that was my decision, and I don't need to know squat about this disability, I know all I need to know about it. I'm a freak, end of story!"

The librarian shushed them and sent them a hard stare, she wasn't so keen on noises in her library, and she was very evil, according to all the students on East High. Very stepmother in Cinderella like.

Troy shook his head, this was history repeating itself, other people were noisy and he got all the trouble. He turned to look at his newfound blonde friend. "You're special, Shar, and I'd like for you to realize that!" Sharpay just rolled her eyes at this. "I mean it. Repeat after me; I'd rather be special!"

"Look, Troy. I'm not gonna have this discussion with you anymore, it's getting really tiring." She hissed at him, she did that often, at least in the past towards her brother, but that was old days. "I'm a freak, and that's just the way the boat floats. Deal with it."

She got up from her seat and took a quick glance down her body, her clothes looked great, so she was ready to go. She understood clothes, but she didn't care about fashion, as mentioned in earlier chapters. She laid the book she had in her hands down on the big pile of Titanic books, she and Troy had hoarded from the library. She eyed them for a bit, and then she eyed Troy, who'd just gotten up from his chair. It was decided then, she grabbed the books and handed them to Troy, because it was unanimous decided between Sharpay and Sharpay herself, that Troy had to be the carrier.

Troy took the books in his arms, not that he had a choice in that matter, and they both began walking out of the library together. All the towards the door, he was thinking of something to say, so Sharpay could get it in to her brain, that she was special and not a freak, but whatever he said, she would never listen.

When they got to the door, Sharpay was about to open the door, but was pushed away by Troy, who wouldn't let her open it, he wanted to that himself, even though he had no free hands, he could work it though. He opened the door, and they exited the library. Safety. He was still figuring out what to say, when they were approached by Chad and the basketball team, better known as the anti Sharpay Evans club.

"They say her touch can freeze, I think we should praise ourselves lucky, that our basketball star hasn't turned into a sculpture!" Chad lead off by saying, and all the jocks sniggered at this rude comment. Troy was just about to say something back to defend Sharpay, so she knew she didn't need to listen to this, and that they were being dumb, but she had run off before he even got the chance.

"Now, look what you did. You upset her!" Troy screamed into his so-called bestfriend's face. He turned around and walked down the hallway to find his locker to put the books in. When he had done this, he was gonna go back to look for Sharpay, he was worried. Instead of doing that, he came face to face with his afro friend and his team.

Chad put an arm around Troy's shoulder and said; "She's an ice queen, she can't get upset. And what does it really matter? It's for the best anyways."

"What's for the best? That you hurt her feelings, or that you talk smack behind her back? What do you even have to have against her?" Troy questioned, brushing his Chad's arm off of him. He crossed his arm in an angry manner and stared coldly at his friend, awaiting an answer from him.

Chad looked painfully down, he hated to think about that. Truth was, he missed his old bestfriend, but he would never admit, because she had hurt him very badly, and these past years had been payback time. He looked up, an angry look on his face, he was trying to hide his hurt, and he yelled; "She's a bitch, and she's icecold, do I need anymore reason than that?"

"I don't know." Troy said, as he began to walk away, and as he'd suspected, Chad and the guys followed. "But that shouldn't really be a problem for you, you're not the one who's friends with her, so you shouldn't care about how she is."

"I don't want you to be friends with her." Chad said in tone, that he only used, when he felt strong hate towards something. No, wait. He didn't just say it, he kinda demanded it!

"Well, that's not up for you to decide." Troy snapped at his bestfriend, but he didn't care. They turned around the corner, and Troy was secretly looking for Sharpay, but they didn't know that, if they did they wouldn't be following. "I'm gonna be friends with her, whether you like it or not!"

"Fine!" Chad screamed at the top of his lungs. He knew the easiest thing to do, would be to come clean about his past about Sharpay, but he didn't wanna come across as a sissy guy, because it had hurt him that much, so he went with tough guy thing. Besides, it was payback. "Don't come to me, when the mountain lion scratches you!"

With that being said, he ran off with the rest of the team. Troy couldn't believe Chad sometimes, that he could have something against someone, he didn't even know. Sure, Sharpay wasn't the ordinary girl, and she'd come up with this facade to keep people at a distance, but if you bothered getting to know her, she wasn't bad all. It was stupid just judging her by what you see, because she really was a deep girl.

She was charmingly weird. She named every electronic item in her room, the remote was named Billie, her tv was named Mary-Louise, her dvd-player was named Bono, her computer was named Eihilt, her cell was named Toulouse, and her iPod was named June, and her stereo, Delaney, was their God. That was what she'd told him at least. She talked to things, things you shouldn't be talking to, like the computer to point out an example, she would yell fat bastard to it, whenever it didn't do as she wanted! She also talked to herself from time to time, but she had told him, that that was only to worry her mom, she obviously got a kick out of that.

In the book about her handicap, that he'd read a couple of times to understand it just a little bit, it said that Aspergers would have a couple of things, maybe three, that they knew practically everything about. He didn't know, what it was with Sharpay yet, but he was fishing after it. He knew, she had a great pashion, when it came to music, and that she loved to sing. She'd even told him once, that when she used to be scared, she'd sing out loud to herself, because then she felt safe, and felt that no-one could hurt her. He knew, she 'understood' clothes, but she really didn't know about fashion, she just wore what looked great, so he wouldn't say, that was one of her things.

He decided to ask her later about those things, right now the most important thing was to find her, because she'd gotten really upset, and he needed to comfort her. That was what friends did. According to Ryan, she always locked herself up in girls bathroom, whenever she would get upset at school, so that was where he was headed, even though he wasn't really allowed to enter, but he didn't care about that. She was his friend, and she needed him!

**IRBS**

In the bathroom, Sharpay was sitting with her back against the wall at her usual crying place. It was sick how many times a day, she went in there, she couldn't help it, though. But wasn't it really her fault after all? She was the one, who cut Chad out of her life in a mean way, and now she had to pay for it. That was karma for ya, coming back to bite her in the ass. That was great, just great, wasn't she having a hard time enough?

She wasn't crying that much right now, she was more sobbing. Her usual routine, she would cry like crazy, and when she began to be all cried out, she'd begin to sob. She was singing as well, it didn't sound as great as it could have, due to her sobbing, but that didn't matter to her right now. All that mattered right now to her was to just feel a little bit safe, and that was why she sang.

"_As I tried to say goodbye, you wouldn't let me, you kept holding me ba-ba-baaaaaack.._" She couldn't even finish it, she was sobbing too hard. "Just the same anyways, it sounded like crap. Everything in my life is crap! I have this stupid handicap, that makes me a freak, and my parents didn't even want me to know about it. Great parents, people should subscribe them. I don't know how to live with this shit, how do I live my life with this, and what is me, and what is the handicap? Am I my handicap, or am I still Sharpay. I don't know anything about this stupid thing!" She said to herself, as she realized something. "Oh God, I have to read that idiotic book, even if I don't understand it, I have to."

She sighed and closed her eyes, she leaned the back of her head against the wall. God, she wished she had friends, but she had dumped them all, when she found out about her handicap, maybe it wasn't the best decision, but it was better than them dumping her, when they found out just how different she really was. To this day they were all talking behind her back and teasing her, just because she wasn't like everybody else and belonged to a group. Just because of that, they teased her and talked shit about her, imagine what they would do, if they knew her situation?

"Why can't I just say something back, when they let out crap about me?" She asked herself. She didn't understand this, in her head she could, but maybe it had something to do with her handicap? "I mean, I'm quick to come up with something smart to say back to them in my head, but it never really comes out of my mouth. Why?"

She stopped leaning her head against the wall, it was getting really uncomfortable. She tried opening her eyes, but they were all puffy and full of tears, so she couldn't see anything. She was used to it, she almost knew every inch of the girls bathroom, even with closed eyes she could get around in there.

With tears still running freely down her cheeks, she got on her feet and walked into one of the toilet booths, to get some toiletpaper to use as tissues. After having grabbed some toiletpaper, she walked back out again and stood by the usual zink with the usual mirror, where she tried to dry her tears away. It was a waste of her time, everytime she dried the tears away, new ones would soon follow, so she gave up and just let the come. It didn't matter much though, she'd probably used up all the toiletpaper she could that month. She was a regular in the toilet, if this was a bar, she'd probably get a lot of drinks on the house. Oh my God, there she was again thinking these things, what the hell was wrong with her? Oh yeah, she was a freak.

She rested her hands on the the zink and looked at herself in the mirror. God, she hated herself. Why couldn't she be normal? What had she ever done to deserve this misery? She had to be a horrible person, no matter what Troy said, she had to be. She looked down at the zink and a new batch of tears formed in her eyes, she looked back up and got lost in her own reflection. She disgusted herself so much, she didn't know why, she just did. She hated all of this, how could she ever be able to live with this? Why didn't anyone ask her, if she wanted this? She hadn't asked for this stupid thing, how was she supposed to handle it? Was she just expected to be ok with this? No, she wasn't, she wasn't even meant to know about this stupid thing. She admitted, it was easier knowing what was wrong with her, that she was a stupid, ugly freak, instead of running around having no clue and feeling so different, but it was still extremely hard, she couldn't live with it. It would be so much easier, if she wasn't there, and really had she any reason to be?

When she broke free from her thought trance, she spat on her reflection in the mirror and walked to the other end of the room, she banged her fist against the wall, as she tried to scream all her hurt and frustration away. Obviously, it didn't help at all, so she screamed even harder and louder with even more hurt and frustration than before, because it didn't help, and it didn't this time either. Everytime it didn't work made her want to scream even louder again and again, so that was what she did. Luckily for her, everyone had gone back to class by then, so no-one would hear her screams and come in there, only to find the ice queen screaming and crying.

This wasn't fair, going through puberty and this at the same time, with her former best friend teasing her for no good reason at all. She didn't know, why it upset her that much, it just did. It was almost like, this handicap made her take things said to her a little more personal, than they really were. Like, when a teacher said, she'd gotten a question wrong, Sharpay would flip out and accuse the teacher of calling her dumb, brain dead blonde, who didn't amount to anything. Of course, she knew the thing with Chad was personal, but she hadn't really upset him that much, for him to grab every chance he got to insult every little bit of her. It wasn't fair!

She heard someone knocking on the door, so she like speedy gonzalez into one of booths, so whoever it was wouldn't catch her crying like that. From inside the booth, she could hear the door open with a creaking sound, very annoying, she listened intensely to the footsteps, to hear if she could make out who it was.

Whoever it was called out to her. "Sharpay?"

Who could that be? At first she couldn't make out the voice, but she could hear it was a boy. What was a boy doing in the girls room, looking for her? It could only be two people, and since it wasn't her brother, then... "Troy?"

"Yes." He said, letting himself be known. "Where are you, Sharpay? I can't see you."

"Well, if you would use your intelligense, you'd figure out, that I'm in one of the booths, doing my business." Sharpay replied, trying her best to hide the tears in her voice, and she didn't wanna come out, because she didn't want him to see her like this. She really liked him.

"Have you been crying?" He asked, worried. He didn't want her to be sad like that, she'd become one of his best friend's, so he didn't want her to be hurt.

Ugh, busted. She could always lie to him and say no, but somehow Troy always saw right through her, even when he couldn't see her. And obviously he'd heard in her voice, otherwise he wouldn't have asked, so there was really no reasen to lie to him. She should just come out and tell him yes, but she was getting tired of him comforting her all the time, and she was getting tired of him being there for her for every little thing, like opening the door and holding her stuff for her. It wasn't like, she was physically handicapped.

"Maybe?" She tried, still not wanting to come out of the booth. She didn't want him to think, that she couldn't handle herself, even though she really couldn't, she didn't want him to know.

"Sharpay, would you please come out from that booth?" Troy begged her, much to her surprise. She thought, he was getting tired of comforting her as well, or just tired of her for that matter.

She sighed, as she decided to step out of the booth, and when she did, she plastered a fake smile on her face. "Happy?"

Troy put a comforting arm around and sent her a sweet smile. "You know, Chad is a jerk, right?"

"Oh yeah, I have his card." She said, still smiling fakely, not because she didn't want him to know, she was sad, because he had already busted her, but to break the sad tension by making a funny face, so that maybe they could laugh a little. She really needed to laugh for a change. "I just don't know why, it can still upset him this much."

"What can still upset him?" Troy asked, a little confused, because he didn't know Sharpay and Chad's history. Chad wouldn't tell him, and Sharpay hadn't opened up to him like that yet.

"Nothing, nothing." Sharpay lied, and she knew Troy knew, that she did. But she didn't want to tell him, she wanted to have no connection what so ever to Chad. "Just talking crazy over here."

"Look, Sharpay. I'm your friend, and I'm gonna be your friend forever, because I know you, and I know your secret, and I know there's a reason to all the little weird things, you might do. This is not an 'I'm gonna see, what I can get out of being friends with Sharpay, and when I've gotten everything I can possibly get out her, I'm gonna leave her forever' kinda friendship, ok? So you can trust me, I hope you know that?"

Sharpay smiled at that ramble, she already knew, that Troy was a true friend, and he had come to her on his own, because he genuinely wanted to know her and help her, so she knew she could trust him, and he'd already proven that a lot of time in the two weeks, that they'd been friends. It seemed like they'd been friends for a longer time, because he knew her better than anyone, and she knew him. She knew his ways, and he knew hers.

"I know, Troy." She said, this time smiling for real. "I'm.. I just want nothing to do with afro, ok? I hate him, and I know that's harsh, but I do, and I can't help it."

Troy nodded his head knowingly with a funny facial expression, that made Sharpay crack a little giggle. "I know, he has that effect on people sometimes, but still I'm friends with him. He has some good qualities, some you may not realize, and not many on his black list knows."

"Oh, I realize!" She blurted out, quickly covering her mouth with her right hand, as Troy sent her a very suspicious look. She removed the hand again and said; "You heard nothing, I didn't say anything."

"Oh, you know something, and I'm gonna find out what is." He smirked at her, and she hit him playfully on the chest, she was pretty good at pretending, that she didn't have more than friendly feelings towards him.

"Hey, you are no Columbo!" She said and stuck her tongue out at him. She giggled, when he removed her arm from around her shoulder and crossed it with the other, looking offended, of course fake. He gave that away in two seconds.

"Who the hell is Columbo?" He asked, and Sharpay giggled, because he had no clue. Some detective, huh?

"He's this really cool detective, who's really annoying, and he seems like he has no clue, but he always figures out, who did it. He just has his own ways, and he drives the people, he questions totally crazy, and right when they think he's about to leave, and they feel that little relief, he turns around and asks them a question, that has nothing to do with anything. He seems like, he doesn't know, what the hell he's doing, but he's really smart, and his way of finding out is really funny." She explained, smiling sweetly at him. "It's like one of my favorite shows. Really, how can you not know about Columbo?"

"Because I have a life?" Troy tried, but wrong answer. Sharpay hit playfully across the chest again. "But seriously, Sharpay, what were you crying for?"

"Everything." She said, looking down on the floor, suddenly feeling ashamed of him knowing, that she'd cried in there again. It shouldn't be his job to care for her like that, but somehow he did. Even though she trusted him, and knew he was her friend, and that he would be there forever, and she was glad to have him, she couldn't help but feel, that maybe he didn't belong with her, and that their friendship didn't really make sense, but she would always try to brush those thoughts away. It was hard though, especially when she was down, like she'd been not so long ago, and it was easy to get back to that place, for Sharpay at least, because she felt like, she was in that place constantly, even when she was not. If that even made sense?

"Care to elaborate, maybe?" Troy was fishing for information, so he could be there for his friend. Sharpay was really special, he knew that, and he had some weird effect on her, that made him want to drop everything for her, even his older friends. She just had that something, and he wanted to be there for her, as much as he could, and he wanted to help her with everything. He really cared for her, maybe as more than a friend, he hadn't really given it much thought, but if he looked at some of his actions, it seemed like he did, he'd have to think about it one of these days.

"It's really hard to explain, and if I do, you're gonna give me that whole 'you're special' speach again, and I don't wanna hear it, because I'm a freak, and that's just the way it is. And I hate everything about myself, I even spat on me." She stopped her ramble to point at the mirror, Troy turned his head to look at it, and he then turned it back around. He opened his arms and developed Sharpay in a deep hug. "Thanks. It's this handicap, how can I ever learn to live with it? It frustrates me to no end, and I feel like I can have no friends, and that I'm all alone. I know, I have you, but I really don't wanna be a burden. It's basically everything I told you a few days ago."

"Listen, Sharpay, you could never be a burden to me." He assured her, as he let go of her and kissed her forehead. "You already know the answers I'm gonna give you, but I can say anything I want, and it won't get rid of your insecurity, but I'm gonna be there for you forever, so just lean on me, ok?"

"You're not gonna tell me to stop whining?" Sharpay asked, of course kidding. Troy had a way of making her feel good again, even though she often thought to herself, that he should be with his normal friends, instead of her, and that he should be spending her time on Gabriella, instead of her. Troy shook his head and giggled at her, she even giggled a little herself, even though she was trying to keep a pouty face. "No? That's what I would have expected from people, but obviously not you."

That last thing was for real, any other guy would probably have told her to stop whining, but Troy would never do that. He was a real friend, and it frustrated her, that she could be glad to have him as her friend and want them to stay that way forever, and at the same time she could want not to be his friend, and that he would just go back to all his friends, that didn't have a handicap. Couldn't she shut up in her head, and be glad she had him?

"Now that you feel a little better, what do you say, we get out of the girls room?" Troy suggested, and Sharpay immediately agreed, she wouldn't want to stay in this depressing place, after what had happened in there. "Good, because I wouldn't want to be caught in here."

They walked towards the door, which Troy held open for her, when they got to it. Sharpay rolled her eyes at him, why did he always feel the need to do every little thing for her?

"I really don't think, you read that book thoroughly through, Troy." She said, and he sent her a questioning look. "It's not physical."

Troy's mouth formed an 'O', he got what she meant now. He had kinda been treating her like this handicap was a physical thing, and he didn't really mean to, he just wanted to help her as much as possible. He decided to make a joke out of it. "What can I say, Pay? I'm a real life gentleman."

"Wow, how lucky am I?" Sharpay went along with it, as they went out into the hallway.

"I know, right?" Troy smiled brightly, as he offered her his hand, which she gladly accepted. So hand in hand, they went down the hallway to find their class room. They stopped right in front of it, and Troy let go of Sharpay's hand, and they stood there for awhile. "All kiddings aside, Sharpay. I'm here for you, no matter what. I'd like to think of us as best friends."

"We are, Troy, we are." She assured him, even though she hadn't given it much thoughts, but she liked the idea of having one, and when she saw the smile on Troy's face, when she said that they were, she knew she'd made the right choice.

"I'm glad." He said, with one hand on the doorknob, but none of them really wanted to go inside and listen to ms. Darbus go on and on.

They just stood there and smiled at each other. Troy was so happy to be Sharpay's friend, and he wanted to show it as much as possible, because he could feel, that even though Sharpay was glad to have him as a friend, she was still really insecure about him, and he didn't want her to be.

He smiled even brighter and leaned down to kiss Sharpay's forehead, and when he'd done that, something in Sharpay's mind said click and she went blank, so without giving it any thoughts, she kissed him on the lips. It wasn't a friendly kiss, it was a real kiss, but when she finally got back to her senses, she pulled away from him and got very flustered. They were both surprised, that it happened, and it was hard to say, who was the most surprised. Troy, because he knew about Sharpay's insecurity with him, and he'd never in a million years thought, she'd kiss him like that, she'd after all confided in him about her thoughts of ever being with a guy like that in consideration of her handicap? Or Sharpay, who thought she could never kiss a guy or be with a guy, because of her handicap, and that she hadn't even realized, that it happened untill the very end of it? We're gonna go with Troy, because he seemed more surprised, where Sharpay seemed much more flustered than surprised.

"I don't know, why I did that." She admitted, as she took a few steps away from him, it felt weird being close to him right now. She had to be comfortable with a person to be close to them, and right now she wasn't comfortable with Troy. How was she gonna explain the kiss? She knew she liked him, but she didn't know, how she could just kiss him like that. She had to try to explain. "I, uh.. I think, that I maybe had a little too much to drink. Y'know, from the tears. God, the tears they make today have such a high percentage, it's a good thing Ryan is driving today. It's like... I'm really, really sorry. I gotta go."

And with that, she ran off without letting Troy get one word in. Not that it had mattered, if she did, because it this rate he was lost of words. His speculations of maybe liking Sharpay as more than a friend had finally been settled. He did like her as more than a friend, but he couldn't when she was this insecure, unhappy and uncomfortable about herself and everything, and then again he could help her with that. Being with him could maybe turn that around for her, but he wasn't gonna force her into anything, he would let her know, that he wanted to be with her, and that he liked her, but she had to come to him and want to be with him on her own, because of everything earlier said. But surely she must like him, why else would she kiss him? Or maybe she didn't like him, maybe she just wanted to try and kiss someone? She seemed really confused, they had to talk about the kiss someday, but Sharpay had to want to, he wasn't gonna make her even more uncomfortable with things, than she already was.

His thoughts was interrupted, when Sharpay suddenly stood in front of him again and asked him a question. "Could you give me a ride, Troy? Otherwise I can't get home. Y'know, the tears and Ryan is in class."

"Sure."

They arkwardly walked together towards his car, when they reached it, they both got in, and he drove her home. They didn't speak a word to each on the whole ride, it was too arkward, and when they reached her house, he didn't go in with her, like he did everyday. Today he drove off to his own house to think about the kiss in his room, while Sharpay did just the same in her house.

_Ta-daah. I hope this was acceptable, if not I do apologize, but I've been really depressed lately, and I haven't really felt like writing, but I've pushed myself to it, because I didn't want you to lose interest. Ok, so the kiss was totally improvised, but I thought it would make the library scene in next chapter even better, so I hope it was okay. Anyway, enough out me, I'm gonna end it here, and then I'm gonna ask you to please review, because then you're gonna make a depressed girl a little bit happy, and then I'm gonna thank you for reading, it really means a lot. Thanks, and again; review._

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_


	6. I Happen To Like Different

_Hey all :). Thank you so much for the reviews, maybe you can beat yourself for this chapter and give me more than 10, please? I hope you'll like this chapter, because I'm putting a lot effort into it, even though I'm feeling a little off. I have an announcement to make, at the end of this fic (in the last chapter) I have something to tell you, and also I might put this story on hiatus to finish Twist of Love with Stessa, it's only a maybe, but it's really my main focus right now. We need to finish it. On with the story._

_**Disclaimer;**__ I don't own High School Musical :( _

_**Dedication;**__ Stessa (again), because she always supports me._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**5. I Happen To Like Different**

"Gabriella!" He hollered from the other end of the school hallway, just as he spotted her being as far away from him, as she could possibly be. Normally they didn't talk very much, but he needed her help. "Wait up!"

She did as she was told, she stopped dragging her feet down the hallway to get to her locker, and she unwillingly turned around to see him approach her. While he stood there in front of her, she had to bite her tongue not to say something disgustingly mean, and that tells us how much, she really dislikes him, because that's not in her nature to be mean.

"What do you want?" She demanded, it wasn't like she had time for this shit. She had to get her books and go to class.

"Your help." He pleaded, and she all of the sudden found talking to him intriguing, when he like that begged her, but she would give in that easily, she needed some of his convincing.

"Say, Danforth, do you know the song, where Michael Jackson sings _another one bites the dust_?" She questioned him, and with an odd expression on his face, he nodded his head, allowing her to continue. "You have to be _another one_, before I wanna help you."

"What does that mean?" He asked her, slightly confused. Well, more than slightly, but he hid it quite good.

They stared into each other's eyes for a long while, neither of them once removing their gaze from one another. It's like they had silently agreed to have competition, to see who could stare at the other for the longest time - without blinking.

He knew it was a long shot, but he needed some help to tear his best friend and said friend's close friend apart, and it would take a lot of meanness, and she had never really had in her. He had to try her though, because she had been Sharpay's best friend once too, and maybe she, like himself, held a grudge too. Maybe she too wanted revenge, payback or whatever you should call it. Sharpay Evans had hurt his feelings, and now she should have hers hurt as well. He hated her, and now that she was hanging out with Troy, he hated her even more. He was gonna make her life hell, even if it meant crawling to a person, he absolutely didn't get along with, and that he'd done. That he'd done. In fact, he was in the middle of it right now, he just had to get it out there and see, if she agreed. If she did, it'd have to be hush hush, he didn't want Troy to know, what they were planning then, because he'd have a cow, especially since he was falling for the blonde ice bitch! Yeah, Chad wasn't blind, he could see it, just as he could see, that the ice bitch was falling for his friend. He had to stop it and make her miserable. And if she and his best friend ever would begin dating, he'd let Troy know, that he didn't approve very strongly, but after what he had in mind, it wouldn't get that far. Or he didn't really have anything in mind, but he hoped it would come to him.

Gabriella was curious. What did he need her help with, and did she want to help, when she knew? She knew, that he'd been giving Sharpay Evans a much harder time, than he usually did lately, could that have something to do with it? If so, she would maybe say yes, but she would try her best not to give in too quickly, because then she knew, she'd be Chad's 'slave', and she'd have to follow every one of his commands, so she hoped she could say no. She had to practise it in her head, as no wasn't a very strong word for her, she had a really hard time saying no. She could say a bunch of things semi to it, though still so far from it, but she could never say no. She had a bunch of reasons to agree, first of Sharpay was a bitch, secondly she was hanging out and was really close with the boy, that she had a crush on, third why not, really? It was about time she did something mean in High School, instead of always being this good girl. Maybe she should give in right away and be Chad's 'slave'? She'd be doing mean things after all, things she might get a kick out of. Yeah, she should agree, if she was at any point right in her thoughts, that is.

"Come on, just tell me what it means!" Chad whined, jumping up and down in a very childish way. It wasn't that manly in Gabriella's opinion, he was kind of a siss right then.

"Nothing really, it sounded clever, though." She admitted, and it really was the truth. She thought it sounded cool, so she had used it to confuse him and seem smart, which both of them knew she was, so that made it believable for him. Now she was eager to get past this and on with what this was truthfully all about. "Why don't you tell me your deal, Danforth?"

"You see, Troy and Sharpay have become these close friends, and now they're starting to really like each as more than that, so I was thinking, if you would help me..." He began explaining, but he was cut off by the latino brunette.

"I'll do it." She agreed, not knowing what he'd been about to say, but she'd heard enough to know, that it had something to do with ruining Sharpay's life, so that was good enough for her.

"But you don't know, what I was gonna say." He said, it was more of a wonderment than a statement. He was confused, he was easily confused, but at the same time very focused on his goals, and he'd always get there.

"Of course I do." She told him, smiling sweet to him. It took a lot of strength, because even though they'd sorta just become partners, she still couldn't stand him much, but maybe that'd change, when they worked together? "And I'll do it."

Nothing more was said on Chad's account, before Gabriella bounced off to her locker to gather her books for her first morning class. Chad decided to do that same, and he walked back to his locker, instead of bouncing, and got his books out and went to class - a very boring one of course.

They'd have to work on the details of their plans later, because now it was school, and you couldn't that well plan evil schemes there. He'd have to text her later and tell her to come to his house, where they could talk. It was weird, they could stand each other at all, but both of them still had the other's cellphone number, so getting a hold of her should be easy.

--

Later that day the Wildcats had basketball practise, and Troy's head wasn't in the game, he was thinking about a certain blonde, who hadn't been to school that day, and he couldn't help but think, that it was his fault? They had after all kissed the day before, and she had been acting all weird afterwards, claiming that she was high on tears or something along those lines. He had to admit, she really amazed him like no other, even silly things like that amazed him, where others would shake their heads and call her a freak. He had been paying a lot of attention to the gossip in the school hallways lately, and a lot of it revolved around Sharpay, and they often said she was a freak. No wonder she thought so herself, huh? If only he'd convince her, that she was special.

Troy also thought about the kiss yesterday, it had been amazing, and he wasn't even sure Sharpay had any idea. Of course she didn't, she was so insecure, and she probably thought she'd screwed up big time, and that Troy hated her. She'd told him once about her concerns about, sometime in the future getting a boyfriend, kissing him, holding his hand, she wasn't sure she could do that in her condition. Troy had tried to convince her otherwise with no success, but he had this idea, that if they became a couple, he could help her grow stronger? He'd like to think that, and he was sure, that she couldn't find anyone, who knew her better than him.

She liked liqourice marshmallows, she had told him so in their first real conversation. He'd taken her shopping once, which he found out she hated, and then they'd been in this store with all these ornaments, that could play different melodies, and Sharpay had run around and turned all of them on, on the same time. They were kicked out of the store for interrupting the other costumers, it had been so much fun, and he learned she had done it out of all seriousness. He also knew, she felt very uncomfortable in big crowds, out of her own skin and exposed, but she knew it was necessary, if she ever wanted to be something in this world. He'd learned, that Sharpay's day was pretty much structered, she needed to know, what she doing almost every single hour of every day, she wasn't very good at the 'taking each day as it comes' concept, and one little change that hadn't been scheduled could throw her off. Maybe that was another reason, why she had freaked so much out, when they'd kissed, because it had definitely not been on her schedule, so it had been a major change. She was also very good at seeing logic, in a way that Troy would never be able to, and she sometimes wondered why, Troy handled things the way he did, when she would gone about it an entirely different way. All that he knew, plus much more.

Jason passed the ball to him, but it flew right past his ear, he was so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he hadn't realized, that this was basket ball practise. At least not untill Chad went up to him and smacked him across the face, bringing him back to reality.

"Dude, get'cha head in the game!" Chad said, in a very threatening kind of voice, as he stood really close to Troy and stared him down, his body language clearly saying 'bring it on'. There was no kiding around with Chad, when it came to basket ball, and you always had to be in it to win it, otherwise you'd be in deep trouble with him, and clearly that was what Troy was now. "Do you wanna lose the game on friday?"

Troy shook his head, and his supposed afro friend forced a b-ball in his hands, which he passed to Zeke, but as soon as he'd done that, he went back into his own thoughts again.

The kiss was on his mind again. Sharpay had kissed him. Him! That had to mean, that she liked him, or else she wouldn't have done it? Unless, she for the first time in her life had done something on an impulse, which he highly doubted. She had to like him, that was the only explanation. Now the main question was, did she want to? He knew her insecurity in that place, so he really needed to know, if she wanted to be with him, because he could help her mend it then. As soon as he knew, exactly what scared her about it, he could help her. It amazed him, that from one day to another, he could be so hung up on this girl, he'd only known properly for two weeks.

And then there was Chad, he was a whole other problem. Troy knew, he was out to get Sharpay, and he wanted to ruin her life, as much as he possibly could, but Troy just didn't know the reason why, and neither wanted to tell him. His guess was, that they had some sort of history, but he couldn't be certain, due to the fact neither of them were spilling it. He just wished, Sharpay trusted him a little more, and that Chad didn't have so much pride. Sure, Sharpay claimed to trust him, but he knew very well, that she had trust issues, so she couldn't completely trust, though a little was fine enough for now. He knew he could slowly make her trust him, as for Chad the ship had already sailed, his pride was as big as his afro, and all he could do there was hope for a miracle.

All of the sudden, Jason stood before him, waving his hand in front of Troy's face, trying to catch his attention. Where he came from, Troy didn't know, but obviously he'd drifted off to the land of all his thoughts, that kept him from following the things happening around him. He guessed practise was over, as nobody else was on the court, except of course him and Jason.

"Dude?" Jason finally caught Troy's attention, after 5 minutes of hand waving. "Practise is over, we're heading to the showers now."

Troy nodded his head, but didn't reply. He was still half in his own thought land, and half in reality, so the words he heard Jason speak, he didn't fully comprehend, he just nodded along for reasons unknown to himself.

"You listenin' to me, dude?" Jason asked, waving his hand in front of his friend's face again. "We're heading to the showers, unless you wanna stay here and smell for the rest of the day?"

Troy finally came back to reality, all of him anyway. He squinted his eyes together, trying to remember, what Jason had said to him, and when he did, he replied; "Um, Jason? Y'know what? Why don't you head, and I'll stay here for a little while? Unless you want some hand holding?"

"I'm not stupid." Jason declared, looking really offended, as he stuck his tongue out. He spun around and ran straight into a wall, he fell to the floor, but quickly got 'back on the horse'. He turned back around to look at Troy and added; "That had nothing to do with intelligense."

Jason spun around again and ran off to go shower, as Troy shook his head and laughed. Unbelievable, but he shouldn't be complaining, there never was dull moment with Jason after all.

"No, you're right. I do that all the time." He said to himself, and thought of Jason running into the wall, causing him to laugh - again.

**IRBS**

"Coach, can we talk?" Chad asked, peaking into coach Bolton's office, seeing him sit at his desk, doing some paper work.

Jack glanced up from his papers, gave a quick smile and waved the afro in. Chad stepped inside the office, and he slowly and very carefully closed the door behind him, no-one could hear this conversation ever, because they'd consider it as backstabbing. Jack motioned for Chad to take the chair in front of the desk, before himself, and Chad quickly sat down, hating himself more by each minute for doing this, but it had to be done to punish a certain blonde.

"So, Chad, what do you wanna talk to me about?" Jack questioned, curiously, as he put the papers aside, so he could focus entirely on his conversation with Chad, he could feel it was important of some kind.

"I.. uh, uhm.. uh." Chad fought to find the right words, while fiddling with a note in his hand. He'd written, what he wanted to say down on a small piece of paper, which he'd already forgotten half of, that's why he'd brought the note, which he had in his hand under the table, so he could just glance down at it, if he lost track. He tried again, "I, uhm.. It's about Troy."

Jack's eyes grew big at the mention of his son's name. Hopefully, nothing had happened to him, but he needed to be sure. "Is he, is he ok?"

Chad shook his head, his wig doing a funny little dance on top of his head. "No, he isn't. I think, you noticed as well as the rest of us today, that Troy's head wasn't entirely in the game, like it usually always is."

"You've got my attention." Jack said, waving both his hands up and down, as if to tell Chad to go on.

"I also think I know the reason for Troy's lack of team play, a certain blonde girl named Sharpay Evans..."

"Oh yeah, the girl who's never once participated in P.E." The coach interrupted, getting a saying look from the jock before him, making him pipe down.

"Anyway, either they're having an affair, or he's really hung up on her, either way his entire world revolves around Sharpay, causing his mind to be elsewhere during practise." Chad explained rather quickly, and he sighed, when he realized, he'd gotten to the part, that'd really hurt his best friend. "You need to talk to him, coach Bolton. I don't care what you say, or what you do, as long as you make sure, he stays away from her, and get her out of his mind. We need to win the game on friday, and we can't with our team captain in dreamland."

"I see.." Jack said, taking it all in. He looked thoughtful for a few minutes, making a decision. "I guess, I can talk to him. I agree with you, she's no good for him, and I kinda have to, if I wanna keep my golden team."

"Glad, we're on the same page." Chad said, grinning. "Anyway, that's all I wanted, coach." He got up from his chair, and walked towards the door, though before he left, he turned around and said, "I'm gonna take off, I hope what you're gonna say to Troy will help."

With that, he was out. Jack was left all by himself to wonder about, what he was gonna say to Troy. He had to let him down easy, if that was possible. And he'd have to wing it, because he really had no clue, what to say to his son.

He couldn't sit there and wonder about his son's reaction all day, so he went back to his paperwork, which was very important and due the next day. He couldn't concentrate, though, he kept putting pen to paper, but nothing came out, and his mind was elsewhere. Troy had always been his weakest point and his worrying spot, and he couldn't let him fall out of the game because of some girl, who wasn't even good for him. He tried once more to put pen to paper and get something, and when it didn't work, he gave up. He pulled out his cellphone from his pocket, and he texted his son to get by his office asap, that he had something important to discuss with him. He put his cell back in his pocket, and now he waited for his son to come, because he really couldn't concentrate, before he'd had that conversation with him.

5 minutes after Troy had received the message from his father, he stepped into his office, though it seemed much longer to Jack. He got out of the thoughts, he'd been captured in, and offered his son the chair before him, just like he'd done to Chad. Unlike Chad, Troy was much more hesitant, when he sat down. See, his father had been absent today at practise, and surely word had gotten around, that Troy's head hadn't been in the game, and he was in for an earful with his father now. At least, that's what he thought it was, despite that he sat down on the chair, he was offered and began staring at his father, waiting for him to spit it out.

In Troy's eyes, his father seemed to be fiddling with the words, he was gonna use, which couldn't mean anything but bad luck. He had almost 17 years of experience, so the chances of him being wrong were slim to non. Oh, how good would it be to be Sharpay right then? She could tune the things out, she didn't wanna hear, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. She'd just wander off into some weird trance of thoughts, nodding occasionally to fake, that she was paying attention, and people always bought it. He had two times. But this wasn't about Sharpay, this was about him being in so much trouble with his dad, still he couldn't help but think about the sweet blonde girl.

"Troy.." His father started, but still struggled to find the right words, making Troy wonder how much trouble, he could really be in.

Troy flinched in the chair, unwillingly. What could be so hard for his dad to tell him? He usually enjoyed yelling at Troy for something, he'd done wrong, after he'd found the right words, but this time his dad really seemed to struggle with it, and he seemed really uncomfortable. What could it be? He knew, that if Sharpay had been there, she'd slapped his father on the cheek, because it was her philosophy, that if something was broken, all it needed was a good slap and some harsh words, and then it would be up and about again. Right now, his dad seemed like a broken record, but Troy would never have the nerves to hit his dad. That had to be one of the areas, where Sharpay was careless, she had this quality, where she sometimes did the things, others only thought of doing. One of the many things he loved about her. Oh, there he was thinking about her again.

"This is really hard for me.." Jack finally said after a few minutes of silence, still choosing his words carefully. "I don't think hanging out with miss Evans is in your best interest."

Immediately, Troy's mind went to Chad, who must have had a talk with Jack, because otherwise he'd have no clue, of who 'miss Evans' was. Sure, he knew of her, but he'd always called her 'this blonde girl', and whenever he mentioned her, he'd always start his sentence 'there is this blonde girl in my class'. That's why, Troy was certain, that Chad had been there early, that was the only explanation for his dad saying these things.

Troy thought about his reply for awhile, then finally came out with it; "Haven't you always told me, that I'm the only one, who knows, what's in my best interest, dad?"

"True." Jack admitted, as it was the truth, he'd always said that to his son. "But there comes a time, where your vision can be too clouded to see it, so sometimes you need help from your parents, and I feel right now is one of those times."

Troy was outraged, his own father was trying to fill him with crap, only after one conversation with Chad, how about hearing his son's side first, before jumping on the afro's side? Jack was treating him so unfair right now. Wasn't Troy 17 years old? Wouldn't his dad be able to have grown up conversation with him, and not make his decisions for him? God, he was mad at that point, so mad.

"That's bull, dad, and you know it!" Troy exclaimed, as he stood up and slammed his fist down on the desk. "The only reason, you're saying these things, is because of Chad. Maybe you should try developing your own opinions, then we can talk."

Jack took in, what his son had said and had a huge battle in his head, he finally came to a decision, that he seemed happy with himself, but would make his son hate him. It was an ultimatum. "Either you stop seeing this Sharpay girl, or you quit the basketball. One or the other."

"Then I choose to quit basketball." Troy decided, like it was the easiest thing in the world. His dad got this expression on his face, like he hadn't fully comprehended his son's choice, but Troy'd gladly rephrase it for him. "I choose to keep seeing Sharpay. I love her, and from Chad I think you know that."

Wow, he loved her. It hit him right there, he loved Sharpay. It was the first time, he'd ever said it out loud to his father, and it felt good. It felt good to quit basketball, too, now there wouldn't be so much pressure on him anymore, and he could be happy with Sharpay, if she wanted him. He wasn't so sure about that, but there was always hope.

Troy found no point of staying there anymore, so he lifted himself from the chair, he was seated in and slowly walked to the door. Right when he was about to leave, he turned around, when he heard his father speak.

"Fine, have it your way!" Jack said, trying to control his voice. Troy could clearly hear the hurt and the anger in his voice. "Just remember, if you make something your one and all, you'll lose everything!"

Troy laughed at his dad, and it sounded a bit contemptuous, and he spoke; "I'd rather have something to lose, than not having anything at all. At least my life is not empty."

When he had spoken his last sentence, he finally got out of the office, without his dad dragging him back by saying something, now all he had to do was find Chad and have a little chat with him. Troy was so mad at him for going to his father about the whole Sharpay thing. So, he liked Sharpay, wasn't it a real best friend's place to be happy for him and not try to ruin it? He'd think so.

He quickly made his way down the hallways of the school, determined to get to Chad's locker, before he went to the library, because he knew, that he'd most likely find Chad there. He really wanted to rip his head off, or even better his stupid afro, just to get the pleasure of seeing him in pain. That would be so good, but not very wise, he knew perfectly well, that Chad was much stronger than him, so he'd have to keep it at yelling. Really loud!

Chad's locker finally came into sight, after having walked for like 5 minutes, and like he'd predicted, Chad was there, surrounded by the rest of the team. They were all laughing, and Troy could see, that Chad had his evil smirk on, which could only mean one thing: he was telling another mean story about Sharpay.

As Troy got closer and closer, the laughs became louder and louder, and he could hear Chad's voice clearly now. He could even hear, what he was saying about Sharpay...

"... has never participated in P.E., probably because she's afraid of being shattered into pieces." He could hear Chad say with a mean tone in his voice, and then came the laughs from his former team mates. Jason didn't laugh though, but he was probably to stupid to get the 'joke'.

That was the drop, Troy got so angry, that he ran towards Chad and pushed him up against the locker, which was enough to get his point of being angry across. Chad put his arms up in surrender, and Troy let go of him, took a few steps back and shot the afro a death glare. He really wanted to yell at him, God he wanted to yell, but at the same time, he didn't want to share one word with him ever again. He had to say one thing, though, it was important to get out.

"Why did you go to my father?" Troy asked, like Chad was on trial or something, but his former best friend showed no emotions of taking it seriously, he still had his evil smirk on. "Why can't you just accept, that I'm hanging out with Sharpay, and that I like her?"

"You should be with someone normal, like Gabriella." Chad said, avoiding the truth a little. He figured, it would be a very unwise move to lie right now, so he just avoided the truth. That wasn't the same as lying, was it?

"You know what, Chad?" Troy asked his best friend, crossing his arms. By now, Gabriella, Taylor and Ryan had arrived at the scene, Gabriella being the only one who knew about Chad's scheme, as she was in on it. "I don't like the word normal, because what is normal really? Would you like to define it? No matter what normal is, I'd rather be with someone special."

"What's going on here?" Ryan chipped in from his position. What he could see, was Troy and Chad going at it in another fight again, their body language gave then away. Troy had his arms crossed, and Chad had his hands in a low boxer like pose, ready to defend himself, it seemed, if it should ever get that far. Ryan glanced at his girlfriend and her best friend, to see if they knew something about it, they always knew what was going on. Today they didn't, Taylor shrugged and shot him a small smile, like she wanted to apologize for not knowing, and Gabriella shook her head, not knowing either. It didn't enter his mind, that she'd be lying, because she wanted nothing to do with Chad and his ways after all. When they couldn't help him out, his eyes went to Troy, who of course knew, he was center of it, and he answered immediately.

"Oh, this and that. I no longer play basketball, because Mike Standley over here doesn't like your sister." Troy replied, the last comment everybody knew referred to Chad's hair. Ryan signaled for him to go on, so he did. "He has this evil plan to make Sharpay as miserable as possible, saying evil things and stuff, and now he's tried to take my friendship away from her. Just now, he was making some rude joke about her. I don't know, what it is with him."

They all waited for Ryan to punch Chad in the face or something, most of all Chad. But Ryan did no such thing, he spoke, and he sounded very disappointed while doing it; "Wow, Chad, I never expected you to be someone, who'd hold the grudge for so long."

He then turned around and walked away, leaving a very shocked crowd behind. They were surprised that, that was all he did.

Taylor rolled her eyes at Chad, she couldn't believe him sometimes. "Have you considered growing up?" She simply asked, and then she followed her boyfriend's example by leaving.

Troy decided with himself, that it would be best to do the same, so he shot Chad one last angry glare, and then he headed towards the library to get those books for Sharpay and himself.

With all of her friends gone out of sight, Gabriella took a few steps closer to her enimy and whispered in his ears, "So what's our next move?"

"Your next move is to be there and look hot, everytime I mention your name, and maybe question his relationship with Sharpay, when you hang out. You could also suggest, like I'm doing, that he should be with someone normal, like you." Chad explained in a whisper, sure the team disapproved of Troy's friendship with the ice bitch, but they didn't need to know about his plan. "My next move is to keep up this move."

They both put on their angry faces, so it would seem like they'd just had an argument, and then they headed in different directions, Chad with his team towards the gym, and Gabriella towards the science lab.

**IRBS**

She slowly made her way between the book isles, as she traced her fingers over the title of every book, searching for just the right one. She had ditched school that day to avoid someone, but she still felt obligated to do her homework. She had lied to her partner and said, that she didn't know anything about their subject, so she needed books to make her statement believable. Truth was, she knew everything there was to know about it, it was one of her things after all.

She knew, she had to be quick in finding those books, because he might get the same idea as her, and she really didn't wanna run into him, she was so embarrassed with herself. She had kissed him on an impulse, and then she'd made up some stupid exscuse, that she was high on tears, and to top it off she'd run away! That hadn't been the most embarrassing thing, though, she'd been forced to run back to him for a ride home. It didn't get much more shameful than that. It wasn't that, she hadn't wanted to kiss him, she had wanted to so much, it was just that these impulse things, it wasn't really her. She had thought, she'd have a major breakdown later that day, because she'd deviated from her dayplan, but it turned out, those dayplans weren't that important for her anymore. No, she hadn't been left with a breakdown, she'd been left with a huge amount of regret and embarrassment.

What had come over her, really? It so deviated from her whole character, the person she'd been for almost 17 years. She felt really uncomfortable with people touching her, even if it was just a pat on the back. She needed people to tell her, if they were gonna hold her hand, hug her, kiss her or whatever, so she'd have time to get used to the thought of another person touching her, so it wasn't so uncomfortable, when they did. Her brother didn't need permission of course, he'd been there always, and she could always see it in his face, when he wanted to hug her, so it was okay. But jumping into it like that without no warning for either of them was so unher-ish.

The thought of being with him was one, she'd been avoiding the best she could, because first of she was a freak, and someone like her couldn't possibly have a boyfriend, secondly why would he wanna be with her, when he could be with someone normal. Like Chad had said in the hallway, yeah she'd heard all of them, they weren't very quiet. Of course Troy had stood up for her like always, and indirectly called her special, but then again her brother had been there, so why wouldn't he? There she went again and doubted Troy, another reason she couldn't be with him, because she knew, she'd doubt him all the time. And lastly, he'd hurt like everybody else, he'd hurt her just like she was used to, and she really didn't wanna get hurt again, so...

"Sharpay?" She heard a voice behind her, and she spun around and came face to face with Troy Bolton, who was smiling at her, and he also looked kinda relieved. "What are you doing here?"

Quick, think of some exscuse, but don't mention you were avoiding him, she thought to herself. "I like... I woke up in this denim skirt and wrinkly white tee, and then I was here in the library, stuck between two book isles. Can you believe that?" Something believable, she thought again. A typical Sharpay, she was so good at coming up with unbelievable and at the same time funny stories, but this could hardly be the time for one of those.

"Sharpay, I..." Troy spoke in a calm and soothing voice, that could melt the blonde chick, so she did the only thing to avoid her temptations, she could think of.

"Oh my God, it happened to you too?" She cut him off, followed by her covering her face with her hands, shaking her head and kicking herself mentally, for being stupid around him twice in the past 5 minutes.

"No, I think we should talk about that kiss yesterday." Troy said, gently taking a grib around Sharpay's wrists and removing her hands from her face, so he could have eye contact, when he spoke to her. She surprised him by jerking her hands away from him, and taking a few steps back, but he read nothing to it, other than it being her insecurity.

"It shouldn't have happened." Sharpay said, looking down at her feet, so Troy wouldn't see the tears, there were now in her eyes. "It was a mistake, I'm sorry."

Troy looked shocked, but decided to go on as planned. "I'm sorry too, because I disagree. It should have happened, and I really wanna be with you."

"No, you don't." She cried, she locked eyes with him, and she didn't care, if he saw her cry now, it wasn't like he hadn't seen it before. "You don't wanna be with me."

"We can take it as slow, as you want us to." He offered, tempted to rush over and dry her tears away, but felt it would be a very unwise move right now.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Still no."

"Why's that?" He asked, smiling sweetly at the girl he liked, to make it less uncomfortable for her.

She closed her eyes again and sighed, this was harder than she had thought. She hadn't thought, he'd wanted her this much, she hadn't thought he'd wanted her at all. She sighed again, at thought that this had to be done. She thought long and hard on something to say, something that'd get her point across, and that would end this conversation once and for all. When she had it, she spoke;

"Troy, I'm different. You better leave me alone."

"I happen to like different." Troy said, as he smiled at her, still the same sweet smile as before. Sharpay smiled back, it was weak, but it was there, so he took that as his cue to take a few steps forward, to eliminate the distance between them.

Just as Troy had taken the first step towards Sharpay, she ran off, much like she'd done the day before. Today it wasn't away from a kiss, it was to avoid a kiss, that the both of them had felt coming closer. Now that kiss was further away, than it had ever been.

_Ta-daah :D. What do you think? Good enough after the enormous long wait? Please let me know, what you think in a review? The person with the best review gets a dedication in next chapter :). So sorry for the long delay, this was supposed to have been done and posted on the 14th of december, but as you can all see on the date, it's much later than that, and I apologize. The next chapter should be here much sooner, and if a break my promise, you all get a free cookie or the permission to slap me with a rubber toilet brush. Ok, so thanks for reading, please leave a review before you leave, so I know that you're reading, and so I know what you think. Oh, and before you go, I'm sorry for the suckiness of this chapter, but I was pressuring myself so much to get it done, and I done work well under pressure, but I hope you'll live. Thanks._

_**Laters, AK-tutti**_


	7. Someone Normal Like

_Hi everybody. Thanks so much for the reviews, they mean a lot to me, you have no idea. Last chapter got the most positive reviews so far, so again thanks :). This next chapter takes place a month after last chapter, I hope you can live with that, I just don't see the point in writing about the days, where nothing special really happens. So yeah, nothing special happens in this chapter, I just feel like it's needed. It is. Hope you'll all like it, here we go.. Oh, and I broke my promise, so what's it gonna be? A cookie, or do you wanna beat me with a rubber toiletbrush?_

_**Disclaimer; **__Unfortunately I don't own HSM :(_

_**Dedication;**__ De-anneisapurplemonkey. Thanks for the awesomest review, I have ever received. Much appreciation :)_

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**6. Someone Normal Like...**

1 month had passed since the incident in the library, and Sharpay had succesfully been avoiding Troy ever since, and it was driving him insane. Especially the things she did to avoid him, drove him insane, even more so than the avoiding part.

One thing still made him angry to this day. Their project on Titanic, Sharpay had written all by herself and handed it in to their teacher, and the day they were suppose to read it to the class, she was apparently sick, and he had to do it all alone, and what she had written was;

**The Titanic**

_Sail, sail, sail, iceberg ahead, crash, sink, sink, sink._

_If anyone didn't get this, it was:_

_Sail, sail, sail, iceberg ahead, crash, sink, sink, sink._

**The End**

_Written by Troy Bolton and Sharpay Evans._

It was so embarrassing reading it out loud to the class, he felt so stupid while doing it. He should seriously have refused to read it without Sharpay, and when she was there, he should have forced her to read it, but that was all too late now. What surprised him about the whole experience was, that their teacher actually gave them a C, his explanation being, 'that if everybody else did their papers like that, he wouldn't have to listen to never ending boring crap about historic events'. Not very teacher like, but at least they hadn't gotten an F, like he had feared, when he read the thing.

Now he had to listen to everybody's crap, about how it was for the best, it ended like this, and she had never been good enough for him, and he did a good thing not seeking contact with her, and he should be with someone normal, like Gabriella. He was tired of hearing these things, because even though he was upset with Sharpay right now, he still liked her and wanted to be with her, and he believed she was good enough for him, and the only one who really needed to believe that other than him was her, which she unfortunately didn't, and he wanted to seek contact with her, she was just never there. He was determined to talk to her today, no matter how much she wanted to avoid him, it was gonna be his way. And honestly, who'd want to be with someone normal, when you could be with someone special? Not him.

Another person he hadn't seen in a whole month was Chad, and he knew why that was, he had been avoiding the 'fro himself. Thanks to Sharpay, he was good at it, he'd only stumbled into Chad once, and that was in the library. Apparently that wasn't a very good hiding place, he caught Sharpay in there, when she was avoiding him last time, and Chad found him in there, when Troy was avoiding him. So he had a new strategy: stay clear of the library.

He hadn't spoken to anyone lately, other than Gabriella, Taylor and Ryan, he was mad at Chad and the team and his dad, so obviously he didn't wanna speak to them. His dad had tried to get in contact with him, though, when they were having dinner at home, and his mother was a very shocked audience, when Troy chose to ignore his father. Why was basketball even that important to the old man, he didn't even play anymore.

That wasn't really important, though. What was important, was that he needed to talk to Sharpay, and he was gonna talk to her today, he had set his mind up for that. It was easy to decide a thing like that, it was a whole other thing to execute it, he sadly had to face that, when he drove by Sharpay's house, and saw that Ryan's car was nowhere in sight.

Sharpay was smart in ways, that others weren't, he had realized that a long time ago, and she had obviously figured him out, because he knew, that Sharpay was a last minute kind of girl. She foresaw him coming, so she fled her house with Ryan a lot sooner than usually, at least that was Troy's theory. But he couldn't really have expected anything else, Sharpay practically invented the term 'avoid'.

So when he drove by and saw, that Ryan's car wasn't there, he didn't even bother to stop his car and go to see, if Sharpay was home. He would just have to catch her at school, and he was gonna, because today they had history together, and they would be assigned another project by the teacher, who didn't care, and Troy was gonna make sure, he'd be paired up with Sharpay, whether she liked it or not.

After 5 minutes of driving, he pulled into the school parkinglot, and he parked his car in world class style, if he had to say so himself. He was very full of himself, when it came to his car and his driving skills. Something Sharpay was yet to realize, but he figured it would be okay, just as soon as she'd realized, it was supposed to be the two of them.

He got out of his precious car and began his journey to hell, but school was a must. His mother had a lot of faith in him, when it came to that, right now he didn't care about his dad, many people had high expectations to him, though, and he felt obligated to live up to them somehow. He was gonna be a doctor, a professor, a lawyer or any of the other things they expected, secretly he wanted to be a pilot, but that wouldn't be acceptable in his family. Speaking of acceptable, did his father place in that category? He was a teacher and a basketball coach, really nothing to be proud of there.

A girl held the door for him, giving him a 'what's it gonna be' look, and he went inside. Right away he spotted Chad with some of the guys from the basketball, talking and laughing, probably about Sharpay, cos they were mean like that.

He didn't wanna talk to any of them, so he glanced around the hallway to see, if there was some other way he could take, so he wouldn't have to deal with Chad. There wasn't, no matter which way he went, Chad would definitely notice him. So Troy searched his mind for something clever, some kind of disguise to hide himself from the guys.

Then an idea struck him, as the math geeks walked past, camouflage. He crouched down, so he was the same height as them, they weren't very tall, and the he walked with them straight past Chad and the guys, who noticed nothing, Troy just made sure to laugh, when they laughed with that grunt, and act like he belonged. He must have played the part well, cos they didn't notice a thing, but then again neither of them was the sharpest knife in the drawer, so it was expected.

When the basketball team was out of sight, he let the math geeks go their own way, and he went back to his own size with relief. Playing math geek seriously wasn't good for his back!

**IRBS**

"I'm not sure about this, Chad." Gabriella said, her arms crossed to underline her sceptism. She was seriously having second doubts, as one of Troy's best friends, she could really see, how much he cared for Sharpay, and she couldn't bare hurting him like that, with their plan to tear the two of them apart. It was vicious, and even though Gabriella had wanted to do something mean for change, just for a change, this really crossed all boundaries she had, and she wanted out.

"What's there to be sure about?" Chad asked, looking rather confused and slightly mad. This was the fifth time this month, he had to convince Gabriella to be in on the plan, and he was getting tired of it, but he needed her for a specific part of his plan to work. "Troy should be with someone normal like you, Gabriella."

Gabriella shifted uncomfortable, Chad did that to her, he was seriously mean. She couldn't be. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this, Chad. It's beyond mean." She paused, and then added; "And can we please not use the word normal, it's insulting."

"How is it insulting, when some people are normal, and some are not?" Chad wondered out loud, making Gabriella shake her head at him for being so stupid, and he knew that, but she had perspectives in life, and he had his. "My philosophy is, that when someone is or isn't normal, that person needs to be told that. And normal people come first."

"Oh my God. I've never liked you, Chad, but this is lower than I thought, you could be!" Gabriella shouted, even though Chad was standing right in front of her, and they were supposed to be having a private, silent conversation, it was in the middle of one of the school's hallways. Almost everybody stopped, what they were doing, and turned their gazes at Gabriella and Chad, and it was no wonder, that all their eyes grew big at the rare sight. Gabriella grabbed a hold of the collar on Chad's joursey and dragged him into the nearest room, she felt this was a matter between her and Chad, and she knew there was no way of having a conversation with him in the hallway now. The room turned out to be the library. She let go of his collar.

"And that's adding to why, I don't wanna do this anymore." She hissed at him in a low voice. "Oh, and a little warning. You might wanna be careful with your philosophy, someday you'll run into someone, who's nothing like me, and that someone is gonna beat you up."

"Thanks for the warning, but I won't need it." He said, and did exactly what he always did, rejected other people's advice. He had his reason for not liking Gabriella as well, one of them being her always wanting to give people advice, and that she always wasted her time, trying to change people for the better, and even worse she was a math and science geek. He hated geeks, but he couldn't burst at her, like she did at him, because he needed her. "Look, Gabriella, we both know, they don't belong together, all we need to do is make them realize it as well." He paused by the nasty look Gabriella was giving him, it was so unlike her. "Don't give me that, I can't have my best friend being with a girl like Sharpay, when he should be with someone normal like you."

"And that's the only reason, you need me, isn't it?" She questioned him, her voice had gotten all angry and squeaky, and when he didn't reply, she figured him out. "Ugh, I can't believe you. You're the worst!"

Chad was getting frustrated, why couldn't she understand? Why wouldn't she? Why wouldn't Troy? Why wouldn't anybody? Well, except for the basketball team, but they didn't dare anything else, they were a bunch of chickens, when it came to standing up to Chad, so he had kinda forced it on them to understand. Not that it mattered, cos Gabriella still didn't understand, and it was really annoying!

"I just don't like her." He blurted out, quickly covering his mouth, because he'd said too much. He hadn't though, he knew everybody knew, that he didn't like Sharpay, but he'd always made another reason out of him not wanting Troy to be with Sharpay than that. He'd always said, that Sharpay was weird and different, and that was why, Troy shouldn't be with her. But now that it was out there, though Gabriella probably knew before he said anything, he decided to speak the truth, it would be a better way to get her to help. He sighed and finally added. "She ruined my life, and I hate her."

Gabriella could hear the emotion in Chad's voice, she felt kinda bad, so she reached out her hand and stroked his arm gently. He looked her straight in the eyes, tears were forming which made it even more heartbreaking. What could Sharpay possibly have done, that had hurt Chad so bad? Seeing him so sad made Gabriella cave, and she decided to help him.

"Okay." She sighed, when she finally gave in, cos even though she wanted to help Chad with his plan, it was still wrong, but then again... Sharpay had hurt Chad, so she should have seen this coming. Chad wasn't one to take crap from anybody. "Only if you tell me, what happened. How she hurt you. I want every little detail, okay?"

"Fine, okay." Chad agreed, and he was happy, he'd finally get it off his chest and tell someone, but at the same time, he dreaded telling it to her. "But not here, not now. Let's go."

Then he took her hand in his, which surprised them both, but somehow it felt very right, and Gabriella squeazed his hand to let him know, that it was okay, and then they ran out of the library together. They hadn't even noticed two certain someone's, who were hiding in the library, as soon as the door slammed shut, a head with blonde hair popped up behind a book shelf.

"I can't believe him." She exclaimed and ran out from her hiding, stopping where Gabriella and Chad had just been standing. "He's still holding the grudge."

Troy followed her tracks and stopped almost the same place as her, he tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away, hurting his feelings.

**IRBS**

When Troy walked into his history class, the first thing he did was scan the room for Sharpay, and he found her in the back row, where she usually seated herself, so she wouldn't get noticed. She looked up and noticed him too, he offered her a smile, one she didn't return, she just looked away. Why couldn't she get it in her brain, that he wanted to be with her, and that she was good enough?

He wandered to the back of the class, and dumped himself in the seat next to Sharpay. He knew, she didn't approve of it, and she'd much rather be left alone, but tough luck that wasn't gonna happen. He was in love with her, and he was gonna be there, untill she realized that fact. If he couldn't be there as her boyfriend, he could be there as her friend, though he'd prefer to be a boyfriend. He knew, she wasn't ready for him, and he didn't wanna pressure her, but it was very hard not to, because he wanted to be with her so much, and it was hard to be patient.

"Hey Shar.." He tried to get her attention, but she ignored him. It made him a little angry inside, because he was really trying to be understanding about Sharpay's handicap and everything, but when she stepped on him like that, it was really hard to be that guy.

How was he ever gonna get contact with her, if she didn't wanna say one single word to him. It was a toughie, but he was gonna figure it out. He needed to, cos he needed her, it was as simple as that. He had to find away to say, what he wanted to her, without actually talking to her. He knew, that if he began pouring his heart out to her, she'd probably walk away. He could always write her a note? She'd probably tear it apart, but there was hoping she wouldn't.

He found a piece of paper and a pencil for himself to write the note with, just as he put pen to paper, everyone from the class came walking in, including the teacher. Troy knew, that he shouldn't be writing a note then, but he really didn't care, Sharpay was more important than some history class. If they had a proper teacher, he'd probably be able to wait that hour to write the note, since the teacher wasn't proper in Troy's opinion, he went on with his writing.

Sharpay tried to pay attention to the teacher, she really did. Something she didn't succeed, mainly because history was her least favorite subject, and then there was the teacher. What was up with him? Why was he even here? He didn't care about teaching, he hated it, and he hated students, who were on time - that way he'd have to teach. He hated students, who did their homework properly, straight A students for the most, because he'd have to grade it then, which meant reading it through and such. He hated project weeks, or the end of them anyways, he loved everything else about project week, because that meant the students would be in the library or somewhere else, studying and preparing their project, and he didn't really have to teach. It was like heaven to him, Sharpay was sure, but then when the end of the week or month came, the teacher liked to make it project month(s) instead of weeks, it was like hell, he'd have to listen to all the projects and grade them. In his defense though, in Sharpay's mind, even though he was a horrible teacher, he was most of the time a fair grader.

He was ranting on about this new project month, he had arranged, that last time he had let them pick whatever they liked it to be about, but this time he had narrowed it down to some catogories. He explained why, he had done this, and he openly said, he had chosen catogories, he wouldn't die of boredom of listening to them, like he almost had last time. She was sure, they all wanted to buh him, but no-one dared. They had once, when they first had him on their freshman year, which was the first and last time, they ever did that. See, he was a big fan of giving detention out.

Sharpay wondered, if she was the only one trying to pay attention to the teacher, and when she looked around, it seemed like it. 1/3 of the class rested their heads and some of their upper body on their tables, some asleep and some hafl, another 1/3 of the class were trying to secretly fiddling with the cellphones or trying to listen to music on their iPods or mp3s, and they were succesful so far. The last third were all occupying themselves with something else, and she could see Troy out of the corner of her eye, and he was writing something down. Even though she wanted nothing to do with him at this moment, and was trying to avoid him and everything, she couldn't help but wonder, what he was writing and/or writing to. Sharpay was born curious afterall.

Now the teacher was announcing the pairings, a thing he'd never done before, he always used to let them pick their own partner. In the past Sharpay would have been left alone, these days were another story - there was Troy. She was thankful, that they didn't have to pick their own partner this time, because she knew, Troy would have picked her, and to her luck the teacher had just given her a Troy-freecard. No Troy in this project, and he would be busy with his own project with his partner, so he wouldn't have time to bug her. It was all good.

She felt a tap on her arm and looked to the side, it was Troy trying to get her attention again, but this time was new! He wasn't trying to talk to her, he simply handed her a note, hoping she'd read it, she suspected.

Ha, think again, Sharpay thought to herself, as she crumbled the note in her hand. She casually let it drop to the floor, she didn't want one of those 'passing notes? Busted! Read it to the class' kinda situations, because then she'd actually have to hear, what was in it, and that was something she didn't want. Not in a million years.

She was being a bitch, and she was well aware of that, but sometimes a girl just needs to be to protect herself, not to mention her heart. She was positive, that Troy knew exactly, what she felt for him, and she knew, he felt the same for her, that's why he was bugging her so much. But in her state she couldn't be with anybody, and that kiss was a huge mistake, she wasn't even thinking clearly, and then there was Chad. He would do anything to stop Troy and her from being together, which underlined her point of, how stupid it would be. And even after all this time, even though she'd broken Chad's heart and all that jazz all those years ago, she was still gonna keep her promise to him. She would never go out with anyone, he didn't approve of, because she was his boo or had been. Times had changed, they hadn't been friends for so long, and she was the one, he didn't approve of now to be with Troy, which was basically the same thing. Wasn't it? Sharpay was involved in both scenarios.

That she had let the note drop didn't go unnoticed by Troy, and he sent her this confused look, that she quite frankly didn't get. What was there to be confused about? He knew their situation. Of course there was the possibility, that he had assumed she'd read the note, cos she wouldn't talk to him, but he had assumed wrong, hadn't he? She sent a look back at him, a 'what are you talking about?' kinda look, not that she wanted contact with him, she had made that point clear, she just found things odd right now.

He mouthed something to her, it appeared to be a 'why?', and then she got it, he wanted to know, why she'd crumbled it. Her mouth formed an O, should she tell? He knew some of it, which was kinda of the problem, because he thought he knew _her_, but she had many sides. She felt, he only thought, he knew her because of her handicap, and out of that he had shaped the person, he thought she was. Truth was, he didn't know her at all. The only person, who really knew her, was Chad, and that was nearly 4 years ago, they were friends. If she told him this, Troy would want to know the real her, so she was debating with herself, if that would be a smart idea.

"You don't even know me." Sharpay mumbled to herself. She wanted to tell Troy, but she couldn't get herself to say it, so she resolved to mumbling, that was she had told him without him hearing it. Problem was, he did hear it.

He was about to reply, when their teacher announced, who he was gonna be paired up with; "Troy and Sharpay, since I liked your last project so much, you're partners again."

Sharpay's mood was normally low, and now it sank to unnaturally low, she thought she had her Troy-freecard, but apparently she was wrong. She should have dragged that stupid paper to like three pages, then the teacher wouldn't have paired them, and that wouldn't even have been a problem for her. Why did she have to rush?

She could always make a plan to run off and hide, but what was the point really? Troy always found her, she didn't know how. Her best hiding place, there he was, it was unbelievable. She hated it, but at the same time, it was very flattering in a stalking kind of way. Maybe she found it flattering, because she loved him, and maybe he always found her, because he loved her. Not that any of it mattered.

"Partners again." Troy said to break the tension, followed by a nervous laughter, as the rest of the students in their history class cleared out of the room, anything to get away from their history teachers. Sharpay just shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to answer. "Hey, what did you mean before, when you said, I don't even know you?"

What a stupid question, Sharpay thought, but she answered it anyway, though not very pleasant; "I think it's obvious, I meant what I said."

"Why are you like that?" Troy snapped, he thought she was too much right now. "I think I know you really well."

"That's exactly the problem, Troy, you think!" Sharpay yelled back, as she got up from her chair, then she walked out of the classroom, and Troy followed right behind her. They were history partners after all. "But you don't, not one bit."

When they got outside in the hallway, they saw everybody paired up different places, talking about their projects, and since Sharpay didn't wanna have a fight with Troy in front of everybody, and thereby allow them to start rumours about her, she headed toward the library. Troy was up walking right next to her, it was hard, because she was very fast, even in high heels, but he had figured out, where they were headed - to the library.

"No, that's not the problem." Troy concluded, which put a confused look on Sharpay's beautiful face. "The problem is, you won't let me know you. You won't let me get close." He paused to open the library door and hold it for Sharpay, he was still a gentleman. "I fooled myself to believe, I was close to you, that you'd finally let someone get close to you, but you haven't. And have you noticed, whoever gets too close to you, you push away?"

Sharpay entered the library, and so did Troy, closing the door after them. She looked at him, right in the eyes, which was rare for someone like her, but she did. Her expression sent signals of anger and hurt at the same time, like it couldn't decide, which it was. Troy was mad, but seeing that made him worry.

"Name one!" Sharpay dared him, crossing her arms, leaning her one side against a bookshelf. "I dare ya."

Troy took a few steps closer to Sharpay, and was now only a breath away from her, and that intimidated her so much, she reflectively (let's say it's a word) backed away, but having just leaned against something, she fell on her butt. Normally Troy would have helped her up, but his anger made him not want to.

"Gabriella, I know you've been friends. Chase Feller, Nadine Berry, Elizabeth or Lilee Kincaid.." Troy listed, counting the names on his fingers, and then he searched his mind to see, if he'd forgotten someone. "Oh, and I hear you're getting close with Taylor, cos she's Ryan's girlfriend. Are you planning to push her away as well?"

"Why are you like this?" Sharpay cried, she knew he was right, she knew there was a pattern, but she couldn't stop it. She missed Gabriella so much, and they hadn't been friends, since they were like 11, and Gabriella had probably forgotten about their friendship. She missed Chase and Lilee just as much, she even missed Nadine, even though she had teased her back in the days, it was supposed to be fun, and it hadn't been, but they had both grown now, and who was to say if Nadine was like that still? She didn't think, she had any intentions of pushing Taylor away, but she was always unaware of when she did. Most of all she missed Chad, but he wouldn't have understood her situation, she knew it. She didn't wanna miss Troy either, but she couldn't tell him that, things and feelings like that were hard to express for her.

When Troy saw the tears beginning to pour down Sharpay's cheeks, he quickly held out his hand and pulled her up from the floor. He couldn't stand seeing her like that, and seeing her like that made all the anger he had felt go away.

"I'm sorry, Shar." He apologized, he should have known this was a sensitive subject for her. "Why don't you tell me something about you then? Something I don't know."

"I love rice crispies!" She replied right away, it was pure reflex, but she did love rice crispies, they were deliciously yummy. She loved the noise they made, when you poured milk on them the most.

"I was thinking something personal?" Troy suggested and he giggled, when Sharpay made a funny face, she seemed to have forgotten the fight, and she didn't seem angry anymore. "I'm serious."

Her face then turned serious, something personal that he didn't know, it could be anything. "I feel, that you only think you know me, because of my handicap, and it hurts my feelings." She sighed, and looked down at her feet, she felt uncomfortable being personal like that, and she could feel Troy's eyes on her, like he couldn't believe, what she'd just said. "It's okay, because apparently we've discovered today, that I don't let people know me." She assured him, and she pictured his smile in her head, since she was still staring at her feet. "And truth be told, I think you should be with someone normal like Gabriella." She paused, offering him one of her sad, yet beautiful smiles. "There, two personal things, so you better leave a good tip."

He forced himself to giggle at her joke, because his mind had wandered off. Why was it, that everybody used Gabriella as the term normal, especially Sharpay? He decided, it really didn't matter, so he replied to her the same way he always did to that; "I'd rather be with someone special." He saw her look up, like she always did, whenever he mentioned the word special, like she couldn't believe someone thought that. "You are special, and you should be glad, you're not 'normal' like Gabriella, okay?"

There was a silence between them, it wasn't uncomfortable or anything, it was just there, untill Sharpay finally broke it by saying; "But I do like rice crispies."

"I bet you do." Troy chuckled, and he felt like they were heading somewhere now, since she wasn't avoiding him anymore. "I've got a suggestion for you, Shar. How about we tell each other one personal thing a day, and whenever you're ready to maybe be something more, we will be?"

He was awaiting her answer, and the wait was nervewracking, because if she said no, he knew it was never gonna happen, but if she said yes he had a good chance. As for maybe, he didn't know.

He could feel, she was about to reply, he even swore to himself, she'd opened her mouth, when they heard the voices of two people who sounded an awful lot like Chad and Gabriella. They had to get out of there, but they couldn't unnoticed. They had to hide.

"We gotta hide, Sharpay." He whispered to her, and then his eyes scanned the library for a good hideout, and the best candidate was the bookshelf, they were already standing at.

"Quick, think bookshelf!!" Sharpay exclaimed, taking a pose. Troy guessed, she was trying to look like a bookshelf, and on any other occasion he'd have found it funny, but right now they had to hide themselves.

He grabbed her wrist, and she let out an unsatisfied hey, and then he pulled her with him behind the bookshelf, they had been standing at. They both sat down buddha style behind the shelf to make themselves as short as possible, hopefully it helped.

It seemed like it, Chad and Gabriella were now in the library, arguing, talking and whatever they usually did. They knew it was wrong, but Troy and Sharpay couldn't help but eavesdrop.

**IRBS**

When Chad and Gabriella finished their conversation, they left the library, so it was safe for Troy and Sharpay to come out of their hiding, so they did. And Sharpay wasn't too happy, not that Troy was surprised, after what they'd just heard.

"I can't believe him." Sharpay exclaimed, and Troy could hear the fury in her voice. "He's still holding the grudge."

Troy tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away, which hurt his feelings. They had made such progress before, and he hadn't expected her to bounce back like that.

"I told you!!" She then screamed, right into Troy's face, so he had to cover his ears. She was really pissed. "I told you, you should be with someone normal like Gabriella, even they think so."

"You're reading too much into it, Sharpay." Troy tried to reason, but felt like he should be talking to a door, because he got the feeling Sharpay wouldn't listen. "He's just saying that, because he's got this plan to ruin your life. He doesn't know, what he's talking about. And he's just upset, because you hurt his feelings way back when." He paused, when a thought struck him. "Why don't I know about that incident yet?"

"Hey, you got your personal for the day." Sharpay defended herself, and held up her hands in a 'don't blame me' kinda way. "You even got two."

Troy looked at her and felt joy, did that mean a yes, was there a light in the tunnel with the possibility of being with Sharpay? He dared to ask her; "Is that a yes?"

"It's not a no." Sharpay just said, she couldn't get herself to say yes, even if she wanted to. She was nervous, and not ready to be with anyone, and if she was, and she did say yes, she'd still have time to think things over, and usually when that happened, she always managed to convince herself, she wasn't good enough.

"So that would make it a maybe?" Troy wondered out loud, which he sometimes tended to do, and Sharpay loved that about him among other things. "I mean, if it's not a yes and it's not a no, what could be left other than maybe?"

"Possibly." Sharpay then said, and she knew, she'd just made Troy somewhat happy, because it wasn't a no. And she was happy herself as well, she wanted it as much as him, she didn't feel like she could, though. "But you need to tell me your personal then."

He nodded to show he agreed. But what should he tell her, he had lots of personal things, she didn't know about. "I had a sister named Tynisha." He decided to tell her, because it was personal and she would be the first to know, other than his family of course, like he was the first to know about her insecurities. "She died, when she was 6 years old. Some drunk driver, hit and run, they never caught the bastard." He paused and let a tear slip down his cheek, this was hard, but he needed to tell her this. "She wasn't even on the road. She was playing outside on the street, skipping to be exact. She was just playing, and there was even a sign at the end of our street that read 'beware of playing children' and then how much, you were allowed to drive. He went way to fast." Troy broke down in tears, Sharpay reached out her hand and stroke his arm to comfort him, and he tried his best to continue. "She was just playing, and he was going way too fast, she had no chance to get away. And the only thing I have for comfort, is that she died right on the spot, right when it hit her, so she didn't have to suffer."

"I didn't know..." Sharpay was about to begin the official I'm so sorry speech, which was often delivered after one of those tragic stories, but Troy cut her off.

"And to make it fair, I guess, I should tell you a second personal thing." Troy said, and then he dried away his tease and held a brief pause to collect himself, before he continued. "My father doesn't like you, infact he hates you. And I dislike him for that, cos he doesn't even know you."

To Troy's surprise, Sharpay didn't looked upset, and she didn't begin to cry or anything, Sharpay would usually do, she merely said; "I know."

"You know?" He asked, surprised. He hadn't expected her to know, so of course he was surprised, and he couldn't figure out how she knew. "How is it, that you know?"

"Uhm..." Sharpay let out, she seemed to think about it and choose her words carefully, which was a rare thing, and even when she did, she didn't use the words, she'd picked in the first place. "Uhm, I have a tendency to eavesdrop, when I walk past something and hear voices I know. In this case your father and Chad's."

Troy's mouth formed an O, he knew about that conversation between his father and Chad himself, and he couldn't believe it then. He still couldn't. He just couldn't figure out why, when Sharpay knew about Chad's plan or some of it at least, she still wanted Troy to go off and be with 'someone normal like Gabriella'. It was really beyond him, but surely she would get over it soon, now that this personal thing kicked in, and there was a chance for them to be together. There was hoping.

There had been silent for awhile, and Sharpay broke it by saying the usual depressing and so not true thing; "You really should be with someone normal like Gabriella."

"What you stop?" Troy yelled at her, and she was a little taken aback, he was just happy the librarian wasn't there right now. They would have been in deep trouble then. "Repeat after me; I'd rather be special." Sharpay shook her as to say no, but he didn't care. "I'm gonna teach you to say it, even if it's the last thing I do." He paused, because he really couldn't let this go, without saying his usual thing. He'd said it a lot, and the more he said it, the more he meant it. "And I'd rather be with someone special."

Then he picked up one of those nametag sticker thingies from a random table, where someone had left, and then he grabbed the pencil next to it and wrote something down on it. He put the pencil back, where he took it, and then he stuck the sticker on Sharpay's shirt, and it read 'I'm Special'.

Then he said; "And you're gonna live by that."

_I'm extremely sorry for the long wait, I just couldn't write, but I hope this sucky chapter makes up for it. Hopefully the next one will be here much sooner, I have a lot going on, but I'll try my hardest to update faster, I swear. And that's about it, I think. Oh, I've heard something about the hyphens don't work at this moment on fan fiction, so if some parts of this story doesn't make sense, that's why. I hope it'll get fixed soon or is fixed, whatever. Now that was it. Don't forget to review, cos remember; that best reviewer gets a dedication. It's not bribing really, cos they keep me going, and you deserve props for that. Review :D._

_**Laters, AK-tutti**_


	8. Mixed Emotions

_Hey everybody :D. Thanks for the reviews from last chapter, I hope you're gonna enjoy this chapter just as much. I've been really busy, so I haven't had much time to write on this, but I'm doing it now, and I've been under pressure, because I promised I'd post this in time for a certain someone's birthday. Anywho, I hope you're all gonna enjoy this. Here we go :)._

_**Disclaimer;**__ All I own is my freedom of speech and a few characters._

_**Dedication;**__ Stessa :D. Happy birthday, nullerdims. I would sing for you, but I bet you wanna make it to 18, too? It would be a shame then, if I started singing, and then you went ARGH, and you'd never see your next birthday coming. I love you, girl._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**7. Mixed Emotions.**

When Sharpay got in Troy's car that morning, she couldn't help but feel really... small? Troy was driving her to school these day, it was all part of their agreement to get to know each other better, so that Sharpay could someday feel comfortable enough around him to be with him. She was sure, that day would never come, because a girl like her could never have a boyfriend.

That wasn't the reason, she felt small, though. The fact, that she always had to rely on people to drive her everywhere did, and she hated, that she couldn't get a license of her own, too much happened on the road, and she could concentrate on so many things on the same time. It was bound to end as a disaster, she'd mostly likely hit a pole, because she was trying to avoid a car, that wasn't really gonna hit her or something like that. It was just too much.

She closed the car door after her with such force, it made a loud bang and made Troy do a frightened little jump in the air, even though he knew, she was coming, and that she was a slammer. It wasn't something, you should call her on, she would get so cranky. The first time she slammed the door of his car, he had tried to make a joke out of it, that she should go easy on his car, it wasn't a skoda, but she didn't find that funny at all and bit his head off.

"So, how are we today?" Troy asked, trying to sound cheerful, but all he got from her was an annoyed sigh. "Lovely! Anyway, I'm gonna be the first to tell a personal thing today, I've been dying to tell you this, because I know you'll get a real kick out of it." She looked at him, eager to know what it was, and he paused for dramatic effect, untill she hit him lightly on the arm. "I used to play with barbie dolls, when I was little. I know it doesn't seem that personal, but keep in mind that I'm a guy."

Sharpay giggled at this piece of information, and it was good to hear. Achieving his goal of getting her to cheer up a little, he drove off towards school in slow tempo, so he had time to talk with Sharpay a little. It wasn't like, they were in a hurry, he knew her slow tempo, and he always picked her up really, really early, so they had time.

"You played with barbie dolls?" Sharpay managed to get out through all the giggles, disbelief in her voice. She couldn't believe it. "With skirts and dresses, the whole thing?"

"The whole thing." He confirmed, and he quickly glanced at her with a smile in his eyes, before looking back on the road. "Now what is your personal thing of the day, milady?"

She hadn't even thought of a personal thing to tell him, and she always thought of them in advance, right after she had told him a personal thing, she would think of the next thing to tell him. This time she hadn't, why hadn't she? She had been depressed about some past events of her life, and Chase, Lilee and Nadine kept popping up in her mind, whenever she was left alone with her thoughts. If she hadn't discovered her disability, would she still be friends with them, or at least Chase and Lilee? Nadine had always been somewhat of a bitch, but the truth was she kinda missed them, like she kinda missed Chad, who kept reminding her of her former friend, because of the way he was towards her, and it made her wonder. Would they be the same? Oh, maybe she should tell Troy about that?

"I miss Chase, Lilee and Nadine." She told him, tweaking the thruth a little. She didn't wanna tell him all her thoughts on the matter, like now that she had her 'thing', and couldn't do anything about it, if she had told them about it, would they have accepted it. "Mostly Lilee, she was a lovely girl. Funny, sweet and cheerful, I liked being around her."

Troy looked thoughtful for a moment, thinking about what to say, and then he spoke; "Have you ever thought about finding them and get back in touch?"

"Why would you say such a thing?" Sharpay gasped, and looked at him like he was insane. "I could never do that, you know how insecure I am in those places. I can't talk to strangers, and they're like strangers to me now."

She was being ridiculous, Troy thought, and it would do her good to get back in touch with some of her old friends. Now that it was such a long time since, she found out she had this syndrome, it could be easier for her to talk to them, be friends with them or whatever she wanted. She had had all those years to figure herself out, so maybe? Maybe she was right, maybe she was too shy or insecure to find them herself, but he could do it for her? Yeah, that would probably make her happy, he was gonna do that.

"Fine, forget what I said." He said, mostly because his decision was supposed to be a nice surprise for her, and he changed the subject. "So I was thinking about our history project, what about we do something on World War 2?"

"No." She just said, and he could hear the anger in her voice, she was holding on to what he said before. Why did she do things like that?

"Why you gotta be like this, Shar?" He asked her, he couldn't stand people being mad at him, especially not the girl he loved. "Why can't you just let this go?"

"Why can't I let this go?" She questioned, by repeating what he said, and he had ticked her even more off by saying that. "Excuse me, but aren't you the one, who keeps swimming around in it?" She was upset now, in the angry way, and when that happened, you should really leave her alone, but Troy hadn't learned that about her yet, he still thought she needed to talk, when that was. "Why can't you just leave me alone once in a while, and stop pretending you know everything about me and everything I need? You don't know shit, so stop being mr. Sensitive towards me, and stop this car, let me out and leave me the fuck alone for the rest of the day?"

Troy pulled into the side of the road, he didn't dare speak a word to her, because he could see how angry she was, and talking about obviously wasn't her style. He watched her open the car door, grab her things, as she sent him a killer look, then she got out of his car and slammed the door with so much power, that he thought it was gonna be shattered into pieces, and then he watched her walk away.

He was parked at the side of the road for 15 minutes, hoping she would change her mind and come back to ride with him, but after those 15 minutes he got the message and drove off to school. Even though Sharpay had hurt his feelings this morning, he was still determined to find her old friends for her, make her happy.

When he walked into the hallways of East High that day, he had a mission. He was gonna find Chase Feller and Lilee Kincaid, because he knew, that Sharpay deep down wanted to see them again, and when he later today would bring them to her, she would realize how he did know her, then she would eat her words. That was his mission!

**IRBS**

"GREAT NEWS, GREAT NEWS, GREAT NEWS!!" Gabriella shrieked, as she ran towards Chad, who was waiting by her locker. When she reached him, she bent forwards for a few minutes, catching her breath, before she continued. "I've got great news, Chad. I heard from a reliable source, who didn't know she just gave us some really important information, that Troy and Sharpay had a huge fight this morning. He pulled over his car, and she stormed out, leaving him there, clearly upset with her."

Chad nodded his head, making his 'fro bounce up and down, as he took in this new information, and then he spoke; "That they fought, it's great, but how exactly does that help with our plan?"

"Don't you see?" Gabriella asked, her voice still highpitched. "If their fight was as big as let on, we might not have to do a single thing. We could just sit back, relax and watch them screw this up all on their own."

Her voice had gone helium, so he had to shush her. He didn't want people to hear about their plan, and when Gabriella's voice went all helium talking about it, there was a big chance that they would, and he didn't want that. There was no reason, that Troy should get even more mad at him, than he already was. Chad would tell him about it eventually, and by then Troy's hatred for Sharpay would be as big as Chad, and he would thank him for doing it.

"Let's walk." Chad said, grabbing Gabriella's hand, and they began walking down the school's hallways to get to class, while talking about things. "I like the way you think, Gabs, and sitting back and watching the show, where they screw themselves up, would be the easiest thing to do, but I really like messing with Sharpay's life and making her miserable. She deserves it." And by saying that, he got an idea. He looked back over his shoulder to see, if anybody who shouldn't hear this was near, and the coast was clear, so he leaned in and almost whispered in Gabriella's ear. "Got an idea to mess them even more up. You be all over him today, whenever Sharpay's around. Suggest you two go out, and when you're alone with Sharpay, let her know what a freak she is."

She sighed instead of groaning, because she couldn't let Chad know, how much she hated this. She had promised to help Chad, after what Sharpay had done to him, but sometimes he found small windows to make Sharpay suffer, that had nothing to do with the plan, and she wasn't up for it. Yeah, Sharpay was different and most people would call her a freak, but there was no need to rub it in, whenever they got the chance. That was just too mean, and she couldn't have hurt him that much.

"Okay, Chad. I'll do this." She agreed against her will, and now she had to do it. She could never break a promise, and she hated herself for that. "I know, that Sharpay mostly hang out in the girls' bathroom and in the library, and I know Troy hang out in the gym, library and at his secret hide out." She paused, mainly because this plan had failure written all over it, but also because... "I don't know how to be all over him."

"Improvise." Chad just said, as if that would automatically make her an expert, which it didn't. "And if you get the chance to plant one on him, do so."

"I am not gonna plant one on him!" Gabriella objected, her voice all helium yet again, and by that time they had reached homeroom, so those who were already there looked up at her with weird stares. "Hi everybody. We were just rehearsing for a play, Chad here is a volunteer at the local theater." Then she lowered her voice, so only Chad could hear, what she said next. "That's what you get for being such a creep."

After that she found a seat next to Troy, who was already there, because she was still gonna honor her promise, even though Chad had just creeped her out. Unlucky for her, Chad did the same thing, so he remained close enough to still annoy the crap out of her or request disgusting things, though there would be a low chance of that with Troy being right there.

"Hey my man." Chad tried to greet Troy, all cheerful. Troy ignored him at first, but then Chad poked him in the side, trying to get his attention, and he earned the evil eyes from that. "Somebody is grumpies today."

Troy eyed him suspiciously, and Chad knew why. That was something Sharpay would say, and the reason why he knew that, was because he and Sharpay began using it together, back when they were friends, before she hurt his feelings and brought this upon herself. Luckily for Chad, Troy read nothing into it and let it slide, but decided to speak to him.

"I bet you'll be happy to know, that Sharpay freaked out at me earlier today and is now cutting class, using her favorite hideout." Troy announced, unaware that they were both thinking girls' bathroom. "Do you know someone named Chase Feller and Lilee Kincaid."

Troy was using Chad to help make things up to Sharpay, but he didn't need to know that, otherwise he wouldn't help him. By keeping that little part in the dark, he knew Chad would help him, because Troy was mad at him, and his afro friend wanted to be back on the good side.

"Hmm.." Chad said, which was his thinking noice. He always said that, while he thought things over in his head, he believed it helped and made things faster. "I don't know a Chase Feller, but the name sounds familiar. I don't know a Lilee Kincaid either, but I know a Liz Kincaid. And my man, that girl is HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT with capital HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. Does that help?"

"To know that someone named Liz Kincaid is well off appearance wise? Not really." He confirmed, but he had to wonder. Could Liz Kincaid be Lilee Kincaid? Both names could be nicknames for Elizabeth, so the chance was there. "Do you reckon, that Liz and Lilee could be one and the same person?"

"I don't know. Could be, I mean Liz is kinda little size wise." Chad concluded, and then he slid off into dreamland, where he was probably doing Liz or Lilee as they spoke, and Troy decided to let him stay there untill class begun.

By then Gabriella had decided to join in on the conversation; "If it helps, Troy, I don't know who they are, but they're definitely in this class."

"Thanks, Gabs." Troy said and offered her a smile, he couldn't believe that girl was scheming with Chad, she was too nice. "I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome." She acknowledged, and she offered him a smile, just like the one he offered her. "All you need to do, when ms. Darbus calls out our names, is to look around and see, who reply to the names Chase Feller and Elizabeth Kincaid, which will most likely be the name she calls out. You know ms. Darbus with nicknames, she is not a fan. That's why it's always Gabriella Montez and not Gabby Montez."

As if on cue, ms. Darbus entered the classroom in the stormy way, she always did. That teacher annoyed everybody, and she always had to make things more dramatic, than they were, but today Troy loved her, she was gonna call out their names after all. If only she'd move faster, she took forever to get herself seated in her chair and find the class list, and when she'd done that, she always took her sweet time, saying every name so dramatically, that each student could take out their cells, and she wouldn't even notice.

"Chase Feller?" Ms. Darbus finally said, and Troy felt like, it had been years, before she finally got to Chase's name. No, correction; it felt like, it had been years, when she finally called out Troy's name, it took 5 decades to do Chase's.

"You know it." Troy heard a voice say, and it came from the back, so he turned his head around, and looked over his shoulder to see a girl giving ms. Darbus a small wave, probably to let her know her position or something.

Troy took his time looking at her, he had to remember, what she looked like for later on, when he needed to find her again, and he already had a hard time remembering people's faces, so this was important. Her hair was dark brown, and it was cut very Posh Spice like, though Chase's hair appeared to be thicker and less styled, and the end curved inwards, framing her face. She had piercing ice blue eyes and long lashes, probably due to mascara, but that wasn't important, she had a beauty mark on her right cheek just below the eye. Her nose was the kind, that plastic girls aimed to get, and her mouth was small, but her lips full. Could she be the girl everybody called Tweedy? He had to say, she was definitely nice to look at. Girls with looks like hers had a tendency to look snobby, but she didn't, she looked accessable and nice. She was petite, a tiny bit shorter than Sharpay, if he had to guess, and she was wearing a mint green top, which brought out her eyes and lived up her skin. He couldn't see, what happened in the lower area, and it didn't matter, she was the call in mint green, no other girl in class was wearing that colour. His eyes wandered back up to her face, and on the way he noticed, that she was wearing a necklace with her name Chase, and now he felt stupid for taking so much time looking at her, but now she was even easier to find, so it didn't really matter.

"Elizabeth Kincaid." Ms. Darbus called out, and Troy was happy, that he had taken that much time looking at Chase, so he didn't have to wait for ms. Darbus to finally call out the other girl's name. He didn't know, what to call her, because there were many choices. Sharpay went with Lilee and Gabriella with Liz, so he wasn't really certain, what to call her in his head.

"That's not my name." Troy heard another voice say, it coming from the back as well, and he looked back to find 'Elizabeth' seated next to Chase, and even though he didn't know them, he wasn't surprise. "Ok, lady. I'm gonna try and teach you this one last time; people call me Liz, friends call me Lil, and close friends call me either Lilee or Lileebeth. So please, please call me Liz?"

Troy was surprised, when ms. Darbus let it go and continued calling out names, then again his mind had never before been present during the name calling, at least not after Troy Bolton, so this was all new to him, and maybe this thing between Darbus and Liz was common.

Now it was time to take in Liz's appearence, and Troy's eyes immediately went for the neck, but there was no necklace, so he had to give her the long lookover, that he had given Chase. Liz's hair was dirty blonde, it was navel length or in better words; long and wavy, and on top of that it was even more thick than Chase's, it was something thin haired girls would kill for. She was also wearing a yellow, white dotted headban, probably to hold the bangs back. Her eyes were a weird mix between brown and green, he couldn't really make them out, and her lashes were like Chase's, they obviously used the same mascara. Her nose was much like Chase's, though Liz's were a tiny bit wider at the end, but it was perfect for her, and her mouth was also a tiny bit wider than Chase's, but it had the same full. Her eyes had a natural smile in them, which was probably because the corner of her mouth went up in relaxed state, unlike Chase's which went down. That gave her a nice look, and she also looked approachable like her friend. She, too, was petite, though a little shorter than both Chase and Sharpay, which was probably where she got Lil and Lilee from. She was wearing a yellow top, which matched her headban, and it went great with her naturally tanned skin. He was gonna go with natural, because he had the ability to see, if it was brought on or not, and also because Chase was much more pale, and tanning wasn't that something supposed best friends did together? So yeah, it was natural. He had to admit, they were both nice to look at, and that he a guy his age hadn't noticed them before, he had no clue, not that it mattered. Beauty was more than looks, and in his opinion Sharpay had it all.

So now he knew what they looked like, and he just had to catch them after class. It was gonna be a piece of cake, and Sharpay was gonna be so happy, once this was all over.

**IRBS**

The weirdest thing happened after homeroom that day. Troy, Gabriella, Chad and the rest of class got out into the hallway, when all of the sudden Gabriella just planted one on him, after she had pulled away from him, he had sent her those eyes full of question, but her and Chad had simply walked away, leaving him all confused. He was gonna have to deal with those to later, though, he had to search for the petities at this moment, so he didn't have time for them.

When they got out into the hallway, they were gone out of his sight, before he could even call out their names, and then he asked himself; how can someone so tiny be so fast? That was a question with as much importance as 'to be or not to be?', if not more. How was he ever gonna find them? He had never noticed them before, he didn't know anything about them, so how was he gonna find their whereabouts. He could always think back on some of the things, Sharpay had told him about them, but it wasn't much, she wasn't too keen to talk about those day. He had to use it anyways, it was all he got, and he was just gonna have to find them with only that.

Okay, Sharpay had mentioned once, that Liz loved shoes, especially designer heels. Now where did they sell designer heels on campus, that was another very good question. She had also mentioned, that Chase loved Starbucks, but shoot.. they didn't have one of those around campus either.

That's when he realized, he couldn't use any of the stuff, that Sharpay had told him at all, because she hadn't told him personal things about them, which he didn't get. They had been such close friends, hadn't they? Then again, Sharpay wasn't one to open up too easily, and maybe that was why.

So he made a plan and started walking around in the hallways, because that's what the plan mainly contained. He was gonna walk around campus, untill he had his next class, every so often calling out either Chase's or Liz's name, and if one of them responded, the other one would be close by. That much Sharpay had told him about them, they were always together and did everything together.

"Liz?" He called out first, after having walked around for 5 minutes, but that's how much head start they had gotten, and that's where he had gotten to in his 5 minutes, and he really didn't know, what the hell he was thinking.

He walked past the auditorium and decided to peek inside, they could be in there, having been friends with Sharpay in the past, they had to share a hobby with her, and he knew how much Sharpay loved singing and acting, so it was really number 1 of his list over places, where Chase and Liz could be.

He slowly opened the door and silently went inside, and in the same matter he closed the door behind him. He didn't even know, why he was being silent, he acted as if, he was out for trouble, and didn't wanna get caught.

It turned out, he was in luck. When he got into the auditorium, he immediately spotted two female figures lying on the big stage floor, talking with each other about this and that, and when he saw them lying there, and it was so easy to go up the and talk to them, his confidence went away, and he couldn't do it. After a few minutes of debating with himself whether or not to leave, he took a seat in one of the chairs and decided to stay there, untill one of them noticed, and while sitting there, he couldn't help but listen in on their conversation;

"Do you think Brangelina will last?"

"No, Brad Pitt is too busy trying to convince the world, that he doesn't have feelings for Jennifer Anistion anymore, which he clearly does."

"She was awesome in Friends."

"She really was, she totally should have gotten together with Matt LeBlanc's character, they look so good together."

"What kinda name is Shiloh, anyways?"

"I don't know, what kinda name is Chase?"

"Well, it's a name to start with."

"Yeah, wee.. A boy's name."

"Yeah, and Elizabeth is the name of a posh old lady from England."

"Cheap shot." And there was a pause. "Hey, I'm thirsty."

"Me, too. I think I have some orange juice in my school bag."

Then Troy watched the two of them, just lie there in silence, untill one of them finally spoke again.

"Oh, I kinda hoped it would come to us on its own."

"Orange juice rarely does though."

"Hmm, have you noticed how much Pay has been skipping class lately?"

"Do you think, she's like sick or something?"

"I don't think so, because she never skips the whole day."

"Do you think I should get green contacts?"

"Why green?"

"I don't know, I think it would make my hair blonder."

Troy got up from his seat, he couldn't listen to this anymore, it was unbearable. Taylor and Gabriella did this too sometimes, so did all his other female friends, and he had never been able to take it. He walked down the steps of the stair, and when he reached the bottom, he cleared his throat to make them notice him.

"Or die your hair brown like mine to make your eyes browner."

And then they looked up, finally noticing Troy, who was looking down on them, his arms crossed. He was annoyed, having spent all those minutes listening to their conversation, but he had to let it go and keep it inside, because his business with them was important, and he didn't want to tick them off.

"Hey, if he dyed his hair brown like yours, it would make his eyes seem bluer."

"Yeah..." Chase trailed off, glancing at her best friend, before looking up at Troy again. "You're that Bolton boy, aren't you? The one who's following Sharpay around like a puppy dog? You look cute together, you should go out."

Liz let out a girly giggle at that last comment, and Chase soon joined in. It was another teenage girl thing, which Troy hated as well. It was the gossip and the giggling and everything, it was just too much, but they were almost all like that. To his pleasure, they stopped almost as quickly as they started, and then they looked back up at him, giving him all of their attention. Finally!

"How would you like to get back in touch with Sharpay?" Troy asked, going straight to the point, and then he watched them quickly glance at each other, like they were programmed to do it, and he saw, that they were both looking sceptical. "I know, she misses you, but she's too shy and insecure to do anything about it. You guys know how she is, and I think you miss her too."

"Bolton.." Liz slowly began, she was just gonna make it up, as she went along, and she knew, that Chase felt the same way, but Troy had cut her off, before she even got to continue. It was just to tell her to use his firstname.

"Call me Troy."

"Fine, Troy." She started again, and then she glanced at her best friend, who gave her sort of a nod of permission to go on. "You have to understand, how we feel in this, as much as Sharpay. She hurt our feelings, when she all of the sudden just cut all contact."

"Not Nadine's, at least not what she showed. She always pretended to be rock hard." Chase carried on from her friend, getting a little off subject, but she quickly got back to it. "There was no explanation, it was just one day, we were all best friends, and the next it was all gone."

"We only have each other now, both Sharpay and Nadine have gone out of our lives." Liz continued, and it made Troy wonder, did they ever get to the point of anything, but he was gonna let them take their time. "Nadine moved the heck to Vancouver in Canada. Anywhos, we really wanna be friends with Sharpay again, but what's to say, she won't hurt us again." Then she paused, and then she looked down on herself, and then she glanced at her friend yet again. "Should I be wearing these white jeans?"

"I don't know, should you be wearing those yellow heels?" Chase replied, making Liz's hand fly up to cover her mouth, as she gasped very loudly. "It was for kids, Lilee. Oh, and Troy? You really shouldn't be doing, what you're doing, because even though we haven't spoken to Sharpay in years, we still know some parts of Sharpay..."

"And she would flip! Honestly, you don't do things like that behind her back, even though it's just to make her happy. It probably will, stud, but at the same time it will make her sooo angry. The main reason being, that you did it behind her back." Liz explained, her voice soft and sweet, like it had been in class too, when she had freaked at Darbus for calling her Elizabeth. "Sharpay is the kinda girl, who's afraid to do things on her own, but still she doesn't want help."

"She's good fun, though." Chase concluded, and then the two friends glanced at each, nodding their heads, like they had just agreed on something. "Lilee and I have made our decision, and we would like to see her again. She'll be happy to see us, but boy are you in trouble."

"This is so great!" Troy exclaimed, smiling at the two girls. He had blocked out almost everything, they had said, and the only thing he really got, was that they wanted to see Sharpay. "Meet me outside Sharpay's at 7 tonight?"

Chase and Liz looked at each yet again and nodded, it was a thing they did often, he had noticed, they always silently agreed on something. He smiled at them one last time, before he rushed out of there.

**IRBS**

Sharpay looked at her reflection in the mirror, her eyes were all red and puffy, even a fool could see, that she had been crying. It was all Troy Bolton's fault, he made such a huge deal out of, that he wanted to be with her, and he would take things slow just for her, and they had that one personal thing a day deal, so that one day she'd be comfortable enough with him or whatever. She had really thought, that he'd liked her, as much as she liked him, but then she caught him kissing Gabriella Montez. She knew, she wasn't ready to be with him, and she was scared to be that close to someone, but he said that he would wait 'till she was ready.

Maybe Sharpay was wrong, but going lips on lips with a girl, that had frozen Sharpay out of her life and completely ignored her afterwards, didn't exactly seem like waiting to her. Or maybe she was wrong about Troy being a good guy, that he was the kind of guy, who would never violate anybody's trust, and instead he was a two girls at a time kind of guy. She really wished, she knew what was going on in Troy's mind at this point.

She dried her eyes in the long sleeve of her pink shirt, trying to make herself look presentable to get back into the hallways again, but no matter what she did, her eyes remained as puffy as ever. Why did she feel ready to face Troy at the exact time, that she did? Why did she have to enter the hallways at the time, that she did? Why did she have to be welcomed with the sight, that she did?

She could feel the tears forming in her eyes yet again, and she gave up trying to dry them. It was no use, and she knew that, whenever she was sad, she would keep crying untill someone would come around and cheer her up, but no-one was around. In the old days, she could have expected Troy to come around any minute and cheer her up, but at this point she wanted nothing to do with him, and he would just make her cry even more. Even if he didn't, he was probably too busy making out with Gabriella.

It just proved her right, didn't it? She was too much of a freak to ever be with a guy like him, she should have known that, but she didn't blame herself for thinking otherwise for a period of time, she blamed a certain Troy Bolton for getting her hopes up. He really shouldn't have done that, if he couldn't commit and make her feel safe, not that she would ever be ready to be in a relationship, so it shouldn't really matter, but still...

That morning she had had an argument with Troy, but it had brought some thoughts into her head. Maybe she should get back in touch with Chase and Lilee? She was about to search for Troy, and tell him her decision about them, when she had finally let that morning go, but when she saw him kissing Gabriella, she grabbed back on the morning. She had also let go of the decision involving Chase and Lilee after that, because she was that mad at Troy. She just couldn't believe him, it was too much.

As if the world sensed, that she didn't need anymore drama in her life, she heard the door open and close behind her, so she guessed, that someone had entered the bathroom. She began staring down in the zink, because she didn't want, whoever had entered to see, that she had been crying, like she had. It didn't matter, that the person found her weird for staring in the zink like that, everybody found her weird, so it was cool.

"What are you doing?" She heard a voice say, that she immediately identified as Gabriella's (just what she needed). "Have you been crying, Sharpay?"

"Like it's any of your damn business." Sharpay said, as she turned around to face the girl, she hated so much at this point. "Isn't that, what you aimed for anyways?"

Gabriella got an offended look on her face, and Sharpay thought that it almost looked real, but at the same time it couldn't be, because she knew Gabriella was scheming with Chad, and they did everything to hurt Sharpay's feelings. She didn't get, why it hurt her like that, though, when she knew it was all part of their plan, maybe she was just weak and vulnerable like that.

"Why on earth, would I aim to hurt you, Sharpay?" Gabriella asked, and plastered an innocent smile on her face, and it made Sharpay wonder, was she lying to Chad or to her? "I would never do anything like that to anybody..."

"Please, you're scheming with Chad, and we both know it." Sharpay cut her off, calling the latina on her lie. Sure, she had wondered for a few seconds, but then she remembered, what she had overheard. "But why you're in on it, I don't get? You hate Chad, you always have."

"You wanna know why?" Gabriella questioned, lifting an eyebrow, which made her look sceptical, like Sharpay should know. "Because you're too much of a freak to ever be with Troy, and we wanna save him the trouble of ever having too."

"I got that, thank you very much." Sharpay snapped, mainly because it proved her right in her theory, but also because she got very upset by getting, what she already kinda knew thrown in her face. "You didn't answer my question, though. What are you doing helping Chad?"

"You hurt Chad's feelings so much, that he actually broke down in tears in front of me, and I wanna help him." Gabriella explained, with a snobby look on her face, that made Sharpay wonder, why she had ever been friends with that girl. "That, and we both agree on one thing, you're a freak."

Tears formed in Sharpay's eyes yet again, and soon after the first one travelled down her cheek, as she felt the need to defend herself. "I didn't do anything, I never hurt his feelings." But what was the point really? She knew it was a lie, and it made her feel a lot worse.

"Really? See, that's not, what I'm getting from Chad at all." Gabriella said with fake happiness in her voice, and she stepped closer to Sharpay, who felt threatened by that and took a few steps towards the door herself. "You just don't care, who you hurt, do you?"

"I didn't do anything!" Sharpay shrieked, repeating herself. She felt herself under pressure, and Gabriella made her feel really guilty over something, that happened years ago, and that Chad really should have been over by now. On the other hand, she really understood where he was coming from, Sharpay found out something around the same time, she dumped Chad as a friend, and she still wasn't over that, and she was sure she never would be, so she kinda got why he could still be upset. But then again, she was just Sharpay, so it was no big loss, and he really should be over it.

"You keep saying that to yourself, you little freak." Gabriella taunted, and the number of tears rolling down Sharpay's cheeks multiplied. "But we both know, it's a lie. You hurt him, and I bet you get a kick out of it, don't ya?"

"Whatever." Sharpay simply said, and she headed for the door. As she opened it, she continued. "I don't have time for this. You got a problem with me, that's fine, but don't be fighting Chad's battles for him, and don't be the bitch, we both know you're not."

Then she tried to make an exit with just a little grace, but that ship had already sailed, especially because the tears were streaming down her cheeks, and also because Sharpay always used the storm out option, when she was upset, so she couldn't contain herself from doing so. And as Sharpay sped out of there, Gabriella couldn't help but feel really bad, she didn't really wanna do this, but she had promised Chad, and he was really upset over the whole Sharpay thing, that happened years ago.

**IRBS**

Troy arrived at Sharpay's house 10 minutes before, he had planned with Chase and Liz, and that gave him time to think about, how he should tackle this. They had warned him, that Sharpay would be upset with him for going behind her back, but he really didn't think she would. He felt that, he knew her more than they did, especially since they hadn't spoken to her in nearly 4 years, so how could they know, what she would be like today? People changed.

Sharpay was gonna love him for this, he was sure of it, and he would help her find a way to remain friends with Chase and Liz, maybe she could even tell them about her disability, to help them understand why she did, the things she did back them. It was an option, or she could slowly go there, getting to know them again first, and then hang more out with them little after little, and then one day far into there future, she could trust them with the secrets. This was just his idea, though, he was gonna go with whatever Sharpay wanted.

He knew his mind circled around Sharpay a lot, and if anybody else ever got to enter it, they would probably think, he was obsessed with her. In his opinion he wasn't, he was just head over heels for her, and he would do whatever it took to be with her, and what it took was time, so he was giving that to her, trying patiently to wait for her to get ready. She also needed them to know each other better, and he was also giving that to her, so he felt like the day, he was waiting for could be around the corner. He wasn't sure, but it could be.

He was really surprised, when Liz arrived 5 minutes before, they had agreed to meet, and he was even more surprised, that she came alone. Chase and her obviously didn't do everything together, like he thought they did.

He offered her a smile, as she approached him, and she returned it with a light giggle. "You're early." He pointed out, and she simple nodded. "When is Chase coming?"

"Oh, Chase is not allowed out after dinner, so if she wanna hang out with friends after 6, they have to come to her house." Liz explained, with that natural glimpse in her eyes and smile on her face. Troy looked down, feeling bad about his plan failing, and Liz read that and continued; "Don't worry, Troy. Chase never listens to a word anybody says, unless she wants to, so she is coming." She paused and saw the smile return to Troy's face. "But she is gonna be a little late. She's always like, when her parents tell her to be home a 6, she hears that, as she should leave from where she is at 6, so she's leaving from home at 7."

"Okay, well that's good to know." Troy said, as he let the news sink in. He wasn't happy, that Chase was gonna be late, but he was happy, that his plan hasn't failed. Now he just had to find something to make conversation with Liz about, especially if she was gonna be friends with Sharpay again, then he needed to prove, that he could be friends with her too. "Hey, when did Nadine move away."

"About a half year ago." Liz replied, and she started playing with the ring, she had on her finger, which looked like a flower. "She said goodbye to Chase, but she didn't say goodbye to me. She just came up to me, and said that I was too girly and weak, and that was all the goodbye that I got."

"I'm really sorry to hear that." Troy said, and it was the truth. He couldn't imagine being Liz and having a best friend, who had to leave, and all that you got for a goodbye was being told that, it was really hurtful. Sure, she was girly, at least after the first impression that he was given, but he also got the feeling, that she was a very joyful girl and full of life. Then again, that might just be those eyes and that mouth she had, that made her look the way she did, he didn't know.

"Don't be." Liz told him, her voice all cheery with that soft and sweet quality in it, that Troy already had learned was her voice. "I was like, see ya, and then I went back to painting my toe nails, as I sat on the piano in the auditorium. And black is just not my color, y'know?"

"I'm so sorry?" He tried, but he didn't really know what to say, when someone went all girly like that on him. Normally, he would be annoyed at that person, but he really liked the vibe, he was getting from Liz, and he liked her as well, and he could see them as friends, which he was happy about considering Sharpay.

"You shouldn't be, I had nailpolish remover with me, so it was no harm." Liz just said, and then she pointed down at her feet in her yellow heels, as if to say 'look, I still got my feet', and then she leaned in towards him a little, as if she was about to tell him a secret, but she continued in the same tone as before. "Let me tell you one thing, my colours are yellow, like the top I'm wearing now, and bright pink, y'know a really, really bright. Green is also a good colour on me, not light green or dark green, but a real green green, also lime green looks good on me. White is also good and a very light blue. I also like purple, but somehow that makes my skin look paler, which is no good, considering I look naturally tanned. Or wait, that's dark purple, light purple makes me look good."

Troy couldn't help but giggle at Liz's rant, because he kept imagining Sharpay hanging out with her. Knowing Sharpay, she would probably join in on listing the colours, that would look good on Liz, and after that they'd probably mention all the colour, that they could think of, that would look amazing on Sharpay. Then he wondered, what Chase would be like in that conversation, and he just couldn't imagine, he had only met her briefly, and she seemed nice, he hadn't gotten the sense of who she was yet, though.

Then Chase arrived, as if she had taken Troy's thinking about her as cue. She ran to her best friend and threw her arms around the girl, and then they stood there and hugged each other for nearly two minutes, before they finally broke apart, and then they carried on by saying, how much they had missed each countless times. They even knocked the thought into him, that maybe Sharpay was the normal one, and they were the 'weird ones', as Sharpay put herself to be.

"Oh, my Gosh." Chase squealed and clapped her hand together in delight, jumping up and down for a bit, but she quickly turned serious. "Okay, I really wanna do this, but it's very important, that I'm back in my room by 9 exactly, because that's when my dad comes up to check on me and tell me to go to bed." She paused, when she saw the look on Troy's face, like he couldn't believe it. "I know. I got a very strict father, but we only got each other, so he's really overprotective, and it's not like I listen anyways." Then she joined hands with Liz, and they began giggling, like it was totally awesome to disobey their parents rules, and Troy was with them on that, but he didn't giggle. "But what paps don't know, can't hurt him."

It took some time, before they finally turned somewhat serious again, and then they both turned to him and spoke his name at the same time. "Troy?" When they talked in unison, that's when he noticed Chase's voice and how different it was from Liz's, it was more deep, where Liz's was light, and then it was quite husky, which brought kind of a sexy feel over it. And he would totally get props from Zeke, if he got them together. He didn't even know, why his mind went there, it just did, because he could really see Chase with Zeke, he didn't know why that was, but he could.

"Should we go in alone, or do you wanna come with?" Chase asked, which pulled Troy out of his thoughts, and then he focussed his attention on him. "I mean, your girlfriend might wanna see you."

"She's not my girlfriend, not yet at least." He told them, and by that they got, that he was in love with their former friend. "And I think, you should go in alone. It would give you some privacy to talk things over with her and repair your friendships. I'll wait here."

They both nodded the nod, that he had gotten very used to by now, and then they walked up to Sharpay's front door and knocked 3 times on it. It didn't take long, before the door was opened by no other than Sharpay, who looked really surprised to see Chase and Liz there.

"Chase? Lilee? What are you doing here?" Sharpay questioned, but she didn't even have to wonder that, because she immediately spotted Troy in her driveway, and she chose to ignore him

"We were wondering, if we could come in?" Liz asked, her voice no good for a situation like this could be, but Sharpay didn't seem upset with them, so it was good. "Talk about old times, as we chew down some of the delicious liquorice marshmellows, that we know you have."

Sharpay nodded, as she let them in. "That would be great, come on in." Sharpay said, after having debated with herself, if she should let them in or not, and then she decided, she should take some risks. She knew, that Chase and Liz were two very nice girls, who would accept her for who she was, if she told them the truth about her, and they could be friends, and she had decided to do so, just so she could have them.

"Thanks, Pay." Chase said for the both of them, as they walked inside, and Sharpay closed the door behind them, leaving Troy outside, clueless about what was gonna happen next.

**IRBS**

Troy walked back and forth, back and forth in the driveway of Sharpay's house, every so often glancing at his watch to check, what time it was. It only made the time move much slower forward, when he was being impatient like that, but it was at least moving forward.

He glanced at his watch one last time, and he saw that, it would be 9 in about 10 minutes, so the girls should be out soon, if Chase wanted to be back in her room at 9, like she said she would. He wondered, if Chase had some sort of special power, because whenever he thought something about her, she would appear, and when he thought about her before, the door was opened to Sharpay's house, and Chase, Liz and Sharpay stepped out. Sharpay carefully closed the door behind them, like she always did.

"This has been fun, Pay. We should do it again soon." Liz said, and he knew it was her, because it was so recognisable. "And just so you know, we're totally okay with your situation, and we would have been back then, too. Thought you should know, but no hard feelings, we're just glad you finally trusted us with." She paused, and then she added something, that was so Liz. "And you colour is totally blue, remember that."

"It wasn't that, I didn't trust you with it. I was just scared, I guess." Sharpay admitted, and it made the girls aw, because they really felt with her. "But I'm glad that's behind us, and we can be friends."

"Is it okay, that we hug you, before we go?" He heard Chase's husky voice ask Sharpay, and much to his surprise Sharpay nodded. He guessed, she had told them, how she felt about physical contact. "Thank you, Pay."

Then the three girls developed each other in a big, warm hug, that had been 3 and a half years overdue. They almost hugged for as long, as Chase and Liz had done earlier, but then they all realized that, they should probably get going, if Chase was gonna make it home on time.

"Bye." They all said in unison one last time, before Chase and Liz ran off, past Troy who they said a quick bye to as well, and down the street, before disappearing into the beginning night. Even though, they were now gone, he swore he could still hear their giggles.

Then Sharpay walked from her porch to the driveway, approaching him, and he brought on his biggest smile, thinking that he was gonna get a big thank you, and that she was very happy for what, he had done, but he didn't know that he'd been so wrong yet.

"What the hell did you do?" Sharpay yelled right in his face, when she finally stood before him, and she didn't even give him time to reply, before she carried on. "I'm gonna tell you, what the hell you did. You went behind my back, when I specifically asked you not to!"

"I didn't think, you meant it..." He tried to reason with her, but she immediately cut him off.

"So you don't think, I mean the words, that are coming out of my mouth?" She questioned, her voice still raised, and she looked furious. "You don't think, that you have to respect my wishes?"

"Of course, I do, Shar." He began, and this time she didn't cut him off, so he quickly continued, before she got the chance to. "But I thought you'd be happy to see them again. Weren't you happy?"

"I was happy, yeah, and I'm glad I'm friends with them again." She was still yelling, never had he heard her yell like that or seen her be this angry. "But that's not gonna save you, because you went behind my back, and you shouldn't have."

"I'm sorry." He apologized, because he knew, that there was no arguing with her, when she was in this state, without possible making it any worse, but he just didn't get it? "Why are you so mad, anyways?"

"Because you went behind my back!" She yelled once again, even louder than she had yelled before, like he was so stupid, that he couldn't understand her, if she didn't. "And that seems to be all, you're doing these days." And then the tears began to flow, and now he was even more confused than before. "I thought you liked me, you said you did, and then you just walk around and do the things you do."

"What are you talking about?" He questioned, trying to remain calm, but truth was, he was getting angry now himself, too.

"I saw you kissing Gabriella in the hallway at school." Sharpay exclaimed to him, and he immediately figured it was a scheme from them, that Gabriella should kiss him, when Sharpay was in sight to pull them apart, and they would probably be happy to know, that they were succeeding a little. He didn't get it though, Gabriella helped him earlier that day, so how could it be?

He didn't know, what to say, and he had a feeling, that no matter what he did say, Sharpay wouldn't believe him, in the state she was in, so he said nothing. There was a long, uncomfortable silence, neither of them knew what to say, especially not Troy, he didn't wanna make matters worse. Sharpay was too tired to continue her yelling at him, she was too tired, which she always became, when she was angry and yelled at people.

But then she finally broke the silence, by calmly (much to Troy's surprise) saying; "You should be with someone normal, like Gabriella."

"I'd rather be with someone special."

"I doesn't matter, how many times you say that to me, I don't believe you." She explained to him and sighed, but she had to carry on. "I'm a freak, Troy. Just do as your friends tell you to and go be with 'someone normal' like that latina bitch."

"This song is getting pretty old, Shar..."

"Then tell your friends to stop sing it, then maybe I will too."

And with that being said, she turned her back to Troy and slowly made her way back inside, leaving him hurt and alone outside in the cold.

_I hope this was okay for everybody, especially the birthday kid. I apologize for any mistakes, but I wrote most of this at shit in the night, and I was totally tired, but I will correct them later, don't worry. I know Sharpay is being difficult, and I know you want Troypay and everything, but be patient and it will get there. I hope you liked the characters of Chase and Liz, I like them myself, and I felt it was important to get, what they looked like in chapter, and that was the only reason, Troy was staring so long at them, but as you can hear, he's got plans for Chase and Zeke. That depends on what you think, though, I was just thinking about, how I imagined Chase in my head together with Zeke, and they match, but do you want Cheke to happen as a minor couple? Anywho, I hoped you liked this chapter, and if you want Liz to be with anybody, tell me? It won't hurt the story in anyway, it will still be a main Troypay. Thanks for reading, you guys, and please review._

_**Laters, AK-tutti**_


	9. We Obviously Can't Be Friends

_Hello everyone. Well, I got a few reviews, and most of them were anonymous, which was kinda depressing. Don't get me wrong, I love the reviews, I just hate not knowing, who's actually writing them, but hopefully I'll get a lot more signed reviews for this chapter. I'm crossing my fingers. I'm thinking to myself sometimes, that nobody actually reads my author's notes, because I don't get a reply to them, whenever I ask a question. Only Stessa was kind enough to reply, and she wanted Cheke to happen, so I'm gonna let Cheke happen, one is all it takes. And now you gotta be honest, and you gotta reply to this, I wanna ask a question, before you I continue with this chapter. Do you wanna see Chad and Liz (or we can call them Chiz) to happen, because remember he called her hot in last chapter, so maybe? Excuse me, I'm just really happy with Chase and Liz, I might even use them in some of my future stories. Anyway, this is a Troypay, and I think you're gonna like the end of this, in some weird way._

_**Disclaimer;**__ I own nothing, if I did, Chase and Liz would be characters in the upcoming HSM movie. Ok, I'll stop now._

_**Dedication;**__ Stessa, again. I told I would dedicate each chapter to the person, who was the best reviewer of last chapter, and Stessa was. Your reviews are always so personal and full of support, and I love them, because you always review. Makes me feel, like I've got my own little groupie :). And you wanted Cheke to happen, so YAY. Most of the times, you're the reason I write anything at all, and I really do love you. I love you, plus our wonderful kids, Steve and Nadine. I see you blushing, are you embarrassed by all the dedications ;b?_

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**8. We Obviously Can't Be Friends.**

"You know, what you did wrong?" Chase asked, startling Troy, because she had walked up behind him and caught him off guard. He wasn't surprised to see Chase's hand linked with Liz's. She didn't wait for an answer. "You went behind her back."

Like he didn't already know? It all happened yesterday, he got in a fight with Sharpay yet again, over some silly thing in his opinion. See, Sharpay had told him, that she missed her old best friends, Chase and Liz, and he had asked her, if she'd wanted to see them again, and she got mad at him for bringing it up. Then, knowing that Sharpay missed them, Troy had found them for her and brought them to her house, where Chase and Liz could hang out with Sharpay. She had been happy to see them, and the visit had went well, but once the duo had gone home, Sharpay went out and yelled at him for going behind her back, so yeah he did know.

It was now the next day, and Chase and Liz were standing with him in the school hallways? Why? Well, because school was this horrible place, that you had to, by force of your parents, attend 5 times a week. But why were they with him? He considered them his friends, and they considered him theirs, even though they'd only known each other for one day, it was as simple as that. That, and they were worried about him, because they knew Sharpay, and they knew how she was gonna react, since she had probably told them, about how glad she was to see them, but how mad she was at Troy for doing, what he did.

"I think we've established that now." Troy replied, sarcastically. It was really all, he'd been told ever since, and the next person after Chase, who said that to him, was gonna get smacked across the face. They were all mentally warned. "Do you think, I should be friends with the team again? I mean, so I don't play basketball anymore, I gave that up, so that I could hopefully be with Sharpay one day, but that shouldn't mean, I can't be friends with them... Right?"

Chase and Liz both gave him a look, as if he'd lost it, and then Chase spoke to him; "We're not even gonna tell you her business now, when you're gonna be all like 'I don't care', and then change the subject to some sweaty basketball dudes, who probably never shower." Then she paused, and her and Liz glanced at each other, like they so often did, and they quickly turned their attention to Troy again. "Except for this one guy, I don't know his name, but he got this banana-chocolate-y scent to him, that I've noticed, when he walks past."

"What she meant to say," Liz carried on, "was that, you should have somehow let Pay know, that you were gonna help her anyways."

"Yeah." Chase quickly agreed, coming out of her daydreaming trance, which Troy knew perfectly, who was about. "You see, Sharpay is the kinda girl, who has difficulties, obviously, in some places, where she herself knows, she needs help, but she won't admit to it. That's where you should have gone in and said 'you know what, Shar, I'm gonna help you anyways', but you didn't. You went the other way around."

That's when Troy realized, that he didn't know Sharpay as well, as he thought he did. Right now, she even felt like a stranger to him, and he felt, that he should have taken his time and really gotten to know her probably, instead of just assuming that he knew everything. He would have never thought that out himself, what Liz and Chase, mostly, had just told him. He felt ashamed about that fact, but hopefully he'd be back on her good side again, and he could make it up to her.

"Thank you for that, I would have never figured it out without you." Troy told them, honestly. He hoped they could leave that alone now, because he needed to deal with that subject by himself, so if they could change the topic of their conversation or he could, it would be great. By that thought, he was reminded of what he had been imagining about Chase and Zeke, and he decided to bring it up. "You know, Chase, there is this guy from my old team, that I think you should go out with some time, I think you'd be perfect for each other."

"Chase is not allowed to date." Liz answered for Chase, in that cute way she always did, and then they shook their heads for a little bit, probably to highlight the not-part. "Her dad won't let her. He says, that's how you get the bird flu, if you sit with the hands on the same table as some guy with bird flu, which he says, all guys have bird flu."

Chase was quick to sent Troy a look, which he read as 'only Liz believes that', and that seemed like to him, because she did strike him as a bit naive sometimes, but that was okay. It was what gave her the charm she had, which was surely, what her friends liked about her.

"But it's true though, I can't date." Chase continued, looking rather sad about that fact. "Sometimes I've really wanted to, especially the chanana guy. My God, he smells wonderful. Y'know I like bananas and chocolate very much?"

"I thought you said, what paps doesn't know won't hurt him?" Troy questioned, because he really wanted her to be with Zeke for some reason, especially now that Troy had fallen for Sharpay, who Zeke used to have a crush on. "And my friend Zeke is really nice, and he's got that banana chocolate-y smell, you were talking about, or chanana as you refered it as a minute ago."

"Oh yeah..." Chase said, as the realization of both facts dawned on her, and then she turned to her best friend, who had been surprisingly silent for some time. "What do you think, Lilee?"

"Huh?" Liz uttered, as she broke out of the trance, she'd been spaced out in, and then she unknowingly looked from Chase to Troy, back and forth, so Chase repeated her question. "I think, I'm gonna have chicken salad today."

She spun around on her heel and started skipping down the hallway, towards her Creative Writing class, which Troy and a lot of his friends surprisingly were in, and Sharpay was in it as well. All the while skipping, she was humming the tunes of Aqua's Space Invaders.

Chase quickly followed Liz's steps, spun on her heel, ran instead of skipping down the hallways towards class, yelling over her shoulder to Troy; "If you could set it up, that would be nice?"

Troy watched the brunette catch up with the dirty blonde, wondering if the date, he wanted to set up between Chase and Zeke would ever happen, even if Zeke agreed. Seriously, it was like Chase and Liz were glued to each other, they even spoke for the other and finished each other's sentences, so he could picture Liz tagging along, and Troy didn't want that. Of course he had never seen them in dating situations, so he didn't know, what they were gonna be like, if one of them got a date. Then again, they had probably never been in the situation before, because Liz claimed, that Chase wasn't allowed to date. He was gonna take it as it came, but teeny tiny miss Kincaid wasn't gonna ruin Chase and Zeke's chance of being happy together.

Suddenly they were gone, he didn't even notice them turning at the corner, he was that lost in his thoughts. Who could blame him, though? He did have a lot on his mind to think about; there was his Sharpay situation, which was top priority at this point, because he really wanted to be back on her good side again. Then there was the question of his team mates, should he and could he be friends with them? He hoped so, he really wanted to be friends with all of them again, or almost all of them, he was still a bit hesitant about what to do with his afro buddy. Then there was the whole dad issue, about him not liking Sharpay and everything, even though he had never had a real conversation with her, and he didn't know her. All he had ever done, was scream his lungs out at her, because she wasn't a physically coordinated as the rest. But maybe if Troy had a talk with him, he would change his mind and give her a chance? Not that he was in a hurry about his dad, he was still really mad. Lastly there was the whole Chase and Zeke thing, but that required him to be friends with Zeke again.

Just then, as if having read Troy's mind, Zeke came running down the hallway, probably towards Creative Writing. He brushed past Troy, and normally he was very quick and would have been out of sight in no time at all, but Troy was faster today and grabbed a hold of his arm, before he got too far away, making Zeke face.

"What's up, man?" Zeke asked, trying to cover up the incident, with him trying to ignore Troy just before, but Troy wasn't buying it, and he could sense that.

After glaring suspiciously at him for a few minutes and deciding to let it go, Troy finally spoke; "Look, do you have time to talk?"

Zeke let out a sigh of relief, because when Troy got mad, he got really mad, and he did not wanna feel the wrath of him right now. It was even worse, than when Chad threatened them to stop talking to Troy, because he hung out with Sharpay. It was probably best to be completely honest with his old friend, to avoid the anger, so that was what he was gonna do.

"I really want to, I do. But you know Chad, and his feelings towards the ice queen." Zeke explained, making a lot of hand gestures, but that was him. He rarely ever spoke a sentence without making hand gestures. "We're simply not allowed."

"Okay, listen Zeke," Troy let off, and much to his own surprise, he was calm about it, considering what Zeke had just called Sharpay, "we're gonna go over this one more time. Sharpay is not an ice queen." He placed a hand on Zeke's shoulder for a brief second, to let him know that he wasn't upset with him. "It's just an act, she used to put on, but I think she's done with it." Troy paused, and discovered that Zeke was really paying attention, and Troy would've never expected anything else, Zeke was a good guy. "I just wanna be friends again, y'know?"

"I guess. What else?" Zeke asked, he could sense Troy wasn't done yet. Had the guys been there, he would have been shunned for even talking to Troy, and if they knew, he agreed to be friends again that quickly, they would find him weak. He wasn't though, he really wanted to be friends again, he just needed to know, that Troy wanted the same, and then it was easy to agree.

"There is this girl I know, and I think you'd be really great together, so I was thinking..." He paused for dramatic effect, he knew Zeke found it entertaining. "... that you two should go out."

"I don't know, Troy." Zeke replied nervously, feeling the pressure of the conversation. The thing was, he completely missunderstood Troy. "I'm sure she's nice and everything, and I used to crush on her, but I'm over that. I'm really not interested in Sharpay anymore."

Troy shook his head at Zeke, and smacked his forehead. "I wasn't talking about Shar, I'm interested in her, so why would I set her up with someone else?" Troy questioned, and Zeke shrugged his shoulder, so he carried on. "No, I was talking about her friend, Chase."

Zeke looked like, he didn't know what hit him. Who tha h... was Chase? "Do I know her?" He asked, while trying to figure out in his head, if he'd seen her before, or if he knew her or something like that?

"Besides from that fact, that she's in most of your classes, and you haven't noticed her, I really don't know." Troy joked, even if he knew, he'd been just the same about her. Then he decided, that maybe he should describe her to Zeke. "Jokes aside, bakerboy. She's got shoulder length brown hair and ice blue eyes, then she has a beauty mark on her cheek, and she's really petite. Oh, and she's always running around with a blonde girl, who is even tinier than her."

Bakerboy wandered off into dreamland, probably imagining Chase in his head. It had to be, it was the same look, he used to have on, when he used to dream about Sharpay.

Finally Zeke came out of his trance, clearly happy with the outcome of it, and then he said; "I think, I know who she is now. But do you really think, she's gonna like me like that?" He questioned, letting out a half defeated sigh, because who could like him, really? "I mean, I'm the geeky baker boy from the basketball team, so not only am I geeky, but I'm also obnoxious."

Troy shook his head at Zeke yet again, as he was being completely ridiculous. "You are no such things, Zeke. And I know for a fact, that she likes you."

"How do you know?" Zeke asked, eager to know. He wasn't used to girls liking him, so he really wanted to know. He needed to know!

"Because she gets this dreamy look on her face, whenever she mentions a basketball dude with banana chocolate-y smell, and that can only be you, Zeke." Troy explained with a smile on his face, and then he patted Zeke on the shoulder to cheer him up a little, and it seemed to help, because he brightened up. "So, what should I tell her? Do you wanna go out with her?"

Zeke thought about it for awhile, looking down at his shoes, which he so often did, when he was deep in thoughts, and then he finally looked back up at Troy. "I don't want you to tell her anything, I wanna ask her out myself, if you don't mind." Zeke decided, much to Troy's surprise, because his friend didn't usually have that kind of courage, but at the same time, he was proud of him.

As much as Troy wanted to stay there and chat with Zeke, neither of them had time for it. Troy had a very busy schedule that day, but he believed he had conquered already two of the things, he had planned out to do. He had become friends with Zeke, who was part of his old basketball team, so that was one. He had made sure that the whole Zeke/Chase thing would happen, and that was number two. Now he had two issues left, the one with Sharpay, and the one with his dad. He was going for Sharpay first, because let's face it, he loved her deeply.

Troy checked the watch on his wrist, another 2 minutes before the Creative Writing class would begin, what were the odds, that Sharpay was already in there? They were pretty low. If he knew her well, she was probably hiding in the library or the girls bathroom, which she so often did, avoiding him. It really was stupid of him to go behind her back, but what's done is done, and he couldn't change it. What he could do, though, was try and make it up to her, and that was exactly what, he was gonna do. By the end of the day, there was no way, that Sharpay could be denying him her friendship, he just didn't know how to achieve that yet.

He glanced at his friend, he was staring at him, looking a little worried. Troy didn't blame him, to Zeke he probably looked... he didn't even know a word for it, perhaps obsessed or something like that. It wasn't good though. Who could really blame him, when he had no clue as to what was going on in Troy's mind?

Troy patted Zeke reassuringly on the shoulder once. "I better get to class!" He announced, and then he sped off towards class, so fast that Zeke didn't have time to react. And it was weird, he had been heading there first, but Troy beat him to it.

Of course he was in a hurry, they both should be, they had two very eventful days ahead of them, and before Zeke could even say his own name, Troy had turned around the corner and was gone. Zeke then followed slowly in his footsteps.

**IRBS**

It was Creative Writing, and surprisingly enough Sharpay was there, even though she was upset with Troy. Normally she would have probably tried to avoid him, hiding in the library or bathroom, but not today. She felt different somehow, she didn't quite know, what it was, and why it was, but she was sure, she would find out some time that day, hopefully.

She had seated herself way in the back by the window, as usual, and she plugged the earphones to her iPod in her ears, listening to music untill the teacher arrived. It was a new habit of hers, so that she wouldn't have to listen to her classmates whispers, that she knew was most likely about her. She loved music, so it was all good. The only down there was to the whole thing, was that she was staring down at her table, while listening to her music, so she wouldn't have to look at her classmates either, so she almost never saw the teacher enter, and would get in so much trouble for using her iPod in class.

Music was a wonderful thing, and it was one of the things, she loved most in her life. It pulled her into this world, where nothing could hurt her, and she felt so safe. Nothing could hurt her, the words from her classmates, the thought of her handicap, the whole Troy situation, why she wouldn't let herself love him and be with him, when she knew she wanted to. Nothing. So whenever the music stopped, she would get hysterically, so she never wanted her iPod to run dry in school. That would earn her even more nasty comments, than she already got.

At that moment she was listen to a song called Dog Without A Bone, mouthing the words to herself. She would have tapped her fingers on the the table to the beat, but she knew that would bring some unwanted attention on her, because she knew if she began, her class mates would be scanning to room to find the source of the new sound in the room, and she didn't want that.

It was a curious thing, even though music usually made her feel happy, she could still feel a small amount of sadness somewhere deep inside of her, and it shouldn't be there. She had every reason to be happy, at least today. There was the whole thing with Chase and Liz, whom she'd become friends with again, though they should have been so mad at her. She had ditched them back in the days, when she had found out about her disability, because she was afraid of what they might think, and she wanted to get rid of them, before they got rid of her. She didn't think, they would understand and accept them, if they told her, but they did and forgave her behaviour, that had finally gotten an explanation.

Another thing to be happy about was, that Chad appeared to not be in school that day, and she wouldn't have to deal with his crap. She hadn't seen him, and he would always let his presence be known, nothing had changed in that area, so there was hoping. Of course class wouldn't start for another 10 minutes, and she knew he always showed up at the very last, so a chance of him getting there was still a possibility.

It was so typical of Sharpay, finding something bad in all the good. Why couldn't she just shut up and try to let herself be happy for once? It was obviously impossible for her, otherwise Troy wouldn't be pursuing her, he would already be with her. She knew, he would treat her good, because he always cared more about her well being than anything else, and he really fought the big fight for her. He had quit the basketball team for her, which should have let her know, that he was serious about her, but... she was still reluctant.

She didn't know how to keep Troy in her life, as much as she wanted him in it. It seemed like they couldn't be friends, mostly because of her always trying to screw it up. It was like whatever he did, even if it was the sweetest thing or a nice gesture, she would find some way to burn him for it, and it wasn't fair to either of them. She loved him, he loved her, but she couldn't let herself be loved because of everything. It was just, that with her attitude to everything, she didn't know how to be friends with him. She wanted to, as it was all she believed she could be with him, but she didn't know how.

She was brought back to the real world, when someone pulled the earphones out of her ears. She looked up to see, who was bothering her now, and she was gladly surprised, that she came face to face with Chase and Lilee, who were smiling brightly at her, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Hey Paypay." Chase spoke, as soon as she knew, that Sharpay's attention was on them. She was about to bent a little forward, so she was in position to hug Sharpay, but then she remembered, how the blonde felt about physical contact. "Is it okay, if I hug you?" Sharpay nodded, so Chase leaned the rest of the way in and embraced her in a hug, and it felt good to feel the other girl hugging back.

"Hey Shar." Liz greeted the blonde, with a even bigger smile on her face than Chase, then again it came naturally for her. She pushed Chase away, using butt to do so, all to be in front Sharpay. "Can I have a hug too?"

"No, my hugs are reserved for people, who are qualified for some Sharpay hugging time, and girl you haven't qualified. Sorry." Sharpay replied sarcastically, and not many people got her, when she was being sarcastic. Chase and Liz had always known, though, but Liz still brought on the pout, she was best known for. Unlucky for her, the glimpse of a smile she always had in her eyes gave it away. "Of course, you can give me a hug, silly."

Sharpay stuck her tongue out at Liz, just for a tease, and the dirty blonde returned the favor, before leaning in, giving one of her two favorite persons a good squeeze. Sharpay faked getting choked, so Liz immediately let go, only to find Sharpay smirking at her, so she hit the taller blonde playfully in the back of her head, where it would hurt less because of all the hair.

"Guess what, Mayday Payday?" Liz questioned Sharpay, all giddy and excited, as she and Chase seated themselves at the seat in front of Sharpay, and the one next to that. Then they turned their heads and thereby their attention back on Sharpay, since they were having a conversation with her. "Chase might get a date with that Zeke guy from the basketball team, even though her father has clearly stated in the past, that Chase is not allowed to date."

"And guess what, Paypay?" Chase asked, faking the giddiness and excitement Liz had before, just for jokes and laughs, which both Sharpay and Liz knew perfectly well. "Lilee Bilee here next to me is trying to use big fancy words to seem smart."

"Oh, Lilee is smart." Sharpay quickly said, knowing that even though their Baby Lil knew, that Chase was only joking, she could still get upset about it, and Sharpay didn't want either of them to be upset, it was enough she herself was. Liz offered her an appreciative smile and mouthed thank you, and Sharpay acknowledged it with a nod, and then she turned her attention on Chase. "Why are you even considering going out with Zeke, when you know you're not allowed?"

"Why aren't you telling your parents, that you know, that you have you know what, even though they haven't told you?" Chase shot back, quickly covering her mouth with her hand afterwards. It wasn't on purpose, it just flew out of her mouth, and she had never before been that mean to one of her friends, nor had she ever wanted to be. She felt so bad. "Oh, my God. I am so, so sorry, Pay, I didn't mean it. I don't know, what came over me."

A silence came over them, one that couldn't really be defined. It was different for each of them. Liz was smiling as always, humming a song inside her head, but she knew there was gonna be some tension, if Sharpay decided to hang Chase up on it, she had just let that thought go, because it was not very Baby Lil of her. Chase found the silence very much uncomfortable, because she had screwed up, and they had only just become friends with Sharpay, so her comment wasn't that clever, and she knew that like she knew Sharpay. Lastly Sharpay, she was deep in thought, because the brunette had hit a very sensitive spot with her, and Sharpay had given the issue a lot of thought before, but she had always let it slide, since her parents obviously didn't want her to know. She didn't know how to be anywhere else, and if she told them she knew, it would be too big of a change in her daily life. She wasn't even mad at Chase for saying it, she knew the girl had a tough time at home, with her mom being dead and her dad being over protective, so Sharpay fully understood, why she snapped.

Sharpay sighed, and Chase knew she was about to speak, and whatever came out of her mouth, would decide their friendship, and she knew from the whole Troy situation, how Sharpay could take things, but she hoped it wasn't that case with her. She hoped, that the drama Sharpay created with Troy, was because they had real 'spend the rest of our lives together' love, so it wouldn't be the same with her.

And then Sharpay finally spoke, after what felt like hours. "It's okay, I knew you didn't mean it." She offered Chase a smile, and the girl knew she was being genuine. "I want to tell them, but I can't stand my stepdad, and I don't wanna spend any time with him in any way, so that's out of the question."

"Whatever are you gonna do with Troy?" Liz blurted out, when the song in her head was done, and she was back to reality, coming into the conversation with something, that had nothing to do with it.

Chase raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at Liz, and stuck her tongue out for a brief second, making her face look really comical. "All up in Pay's business, are we?" She joked, followed by a girlish giggle, but she soon turned serious again, focussing on Sharpay. "But Lilee is right, you have to do something with Troy. He's completely in love with you, and it's totally unconditionally." She paused, and grasped Sharpay's hands in hers, knowing it would make the chances of her paying attention bigger. "You gotta make a decision, sweetie, you can't just keep pushing him away and making up with him, because you know you can. It's not fair to him, and it's not fair to you, and if you keep going back and forth with him and toy with his feelings, you're both gonna be emotionally challenged. More so than now, so you gotta do something."

Sharpay retreated her hands to thighs, so they weren't visible anymore. It was really scary, it was like Chase had read her mind, because she had been thinking about just that, right before the brunette and the dirty blonde entered the class room. She couldn't make the decision, though, she had tried, and tried, and tried, but she couldn't make it. Whenever she came up with the 'perfect solution', she would think of something else to trash it. It was just too hard! Too damn hard.

A group students came into the class room, and like that the conversation ended, and Chase and Liz turned their head towards the front. Most of the students who entered were from the basketball team, and what they were doing in Creative Writing, Sharpay would never know, but when they entered, all of them sent Chase and Liz demeaning looks, like what the hell were they doing with the ice queen? They didn't care, though. In fact, Chase sent one right back for the both of them, because with the spark in Liz's eyes, she could never pull it off.

Sharpay dug her hand into her school bag, pulling out a random book and threw it on her table. She opened the book on a random page and pretended to be lost in reading, so they wouldn't think, she was paying any attention to them. It would just give them the satisfaction of continuing down the 'Chad Danforth' road, so she wouldn't let them think, they were getting to her, even if they were.

In the corner of her eyes, she could see Liz bounce up and down, from side to side in her seat, humming some song, Sharpay didn't really recognize. What surprised her most, was that Liz did it discreetly, and that had never been her thing. Sharpay couldn't help but smile at her friend, especially cos it felt good to refer to Liz and Chase as her friends in her mind again.

Then something happened, something that shouldn't have happened. Chad entered the class room, he glanced through the room, searching a seat, and it didn't take long, before he'd thrown himself in a chair, so far away from Sharpay, that she couldn't see him out of the corner of her eyes, and she was grateful for that. Obviously he hadn't done it for her sake, but for his own, because he couldn't stand her. And she was okay with that today.

She grabbed a pencil from her bag, because what better way to look occupied than to sit with a book and a pencil? See, that was wisdom. The only problem was, that Sharpay was easy to entertain, but she quickly got bored, so she was very fast bored with pretending to read and write.

With a sigh, she closed the book and threw the pencil out of her hand. She pushed both items, and then she glanced at the watch, which hung over the door, and with fate loving to play tricks in Sharpay's life, it didn't fail, that Troy walked through the door, as she checked the time.

She groaned inwardly, because she didn't wanna deal with him already, and she had sorta hoped, that maybe he was sick that day, and it could wait a few days. The groan turned out loud, when she noticed the empty seat next to her, and she knew that Troy would occupy that, and she wouldn't get a minute of peace from him in that class. Why?

Troy had spotted the seat, probably way before Sharpay, and he was on his way to it, giving a small nod to Chase, when he walked past her. What was that about? He had reached his destination, and he offered Sharpay one of his heart melting, cute smiles, as he seated himself next to her, but Sharpay hurtfully looked away. Maybe if she ignored him, he would give up? At least during that class.

"Hi Sharpay." Troy greeted her, and she had to realize, that ignoring him might not help, because he just wouldn't get it. He didn't even get it, when she didn't turn her head to look at him, he just kept on talking. "Look, Shar, I know you're mad at me and everything, but we need to find a way to work past this and be friends again."

"Who says I want to?" Sharpay blurted out, still not looking at him. She knew it was a lie, as soon as it had left her mouth, but she didn't wanna come across as weak, she didn't wanna let him know, she had been battling the issue in her head all morning and all last night, and she still hadn't come up with anything. She felt it would be better to just lie, as wrong as it was.

He looked hurt for a moment, but he quickly wiped it off his face. This was gonna go his way. "Nobody says that, but I think we should be." Troy said, while thinking of ways to make her face him, though she was probably to stubborn to ever do so. And maybe it was stupid of him to start this up in Creative Writing, maybe they should wait to have this conversation. "But let's talk about it later, ok?"

Sharpay finally turned her head, but it wasn't towards Troy, it was towards the front of class. The bell had just rung, and the teacher had entered the class, as everything got quiet and every student, even Liz and Chad focussed their attention on the teacher, waiting for her to open her mouth and speak, waiting for her to teach.

The teacher pulled out a protocol of a drawer in her desk. It was weird, even in junior year of high school, the teachers were still calling out the names of each student from the protocol at the beginning of every class. Weren't they getting a little too old for that?

It was dead silent in the class, something that was very rare, but the teacher of Creative Writing had some kind of control over them. Sharpay didn't know, what it was, but people behaved. The only sounds that were heard, were the sounds of students replying to their name being called out, and when the teacher called out Zeke Baylor's name, he barged through the door, probably embarrassed that he was late.

"I'm sorry, I'm late." He mumbled, as he did the walk of shame through class, but he stopped right next to Chase's seat and knelt down to whisper something in her ear. Sharpay didn't know, what he had whispered to Chase, but it brought a smile on her face, and she nodded her head, as she mouthed the word yes, and Zeke took a seat next to her, smiling just as bright as she was.

"Well, you can't be that sorry, mr. Baylor," The teacher spoke with her very stern voice, giving Zeke one of those lectures, they were all trying to avoid, "since you had perfect time to say something to ms. Feller. Do you mind sharing it with the class?" And with do you mind, she meant 'do it or serve detention'.

"You see, Mrs. DuBois, sometimes it happens in a teenage boy's life, that he wind up liking someone so much, and usually when that happens, it is very common for that boy to ask out the girl he likes.." He explained to their teacher, Mrs. DuBois, and they could all see, she wasn't keen on being talked down to, but sometimes Zeke just had to have that cheeky mouth of his. ".. and that was simply, what I was doing; asking out ms. Feller, or Chase as I'm sure she prefers, and she said yes." He paused to send Chase on of his smiles, and then he turned his attention back to Mrs. DuBois. "Is that answer enough for you?" And they didn't see Zeke at all during their free period, so it had probably been more than enough.

**IRBS**

The minute the bell rang, Sharpay stormed out of the class with her bag over her shoulder and her books tugged in her right arm. She let out a sigh of relief, when she discovered, that she had gotten out of there without complications, but she tensed up, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She prayed it didn't belong to Troy, when she turned around to see, who it was, and was happy to be met by a pair of ice blue eyes, belonging of Chase, concern shining through them. Liz was right behind her, and she looked concerned as well, which was rare thing, because that look wasn't easy for her to pull off.

"Are you okay, Pay?" Chase questioned, and you could hear the worry in her voice, as well as you could see it in her eyes. Sharpay eyed the hand on her right shoulder, Chase hadn't asked, but it didn't bother her one bit, then she looked at the hand rubbing her left arm, she hadn't asked about that either, and oddly Sharpay still wasn't bothered by it. "You stormed out of there, like you were on fire?"

Sharpay battled in her head, what she should tell the girls. She couldn't really make up her mind what to tell them, and she knew if she lied, they would see right through her, and she also knew, that if she told them the truth, they would wanna talk about it with her. Well, mostly Chase. Sharpay settled for a nod, and she could see Chase was about to say something, when Zeke left the class room, his head down.

"You just got lucky, Pay." Chase told her blondest friend, as she noticed Zeke in the hallway. Her hands left Sharpay's body and fell to her side, and she got an angelic smile on her face, and then she looked pleadingly from Liz to Sharpay. "Is it okay, that I go talk to him and settle things for our date?"

Sharpay swung out her arm in Zeke's direction, letting Chase know, that it would be okay, if she went over and talked to Zeke. Chase shot them an appreciative smile, and then she ran to catch up with Zeke.

"You should wear blue!" Liz called out after her, but by then Chase was far gone, and then she turned to Sharpay. "You know, for their date. She should wear blue."

It was weird seeing Liz like that, with somewhat watery eyes. Her best friend had just left them, and she didn't even ask Liz, if it would be okay if she left. She had assumed, that because Sharpay thought it was okay, Liz did too. Liz had never really been on her own without Chase for real, and now she was just thrown into it like that, but she was a tough girl, and she'd adjust to it real soon, with Chase going out with Zeke.

"It's going to be okay, y'know." Sharpay assured her, as they began walking down the hallway towards their lockers to dump their books in them. They had linked arms, it was a Sharpay/Liz thing, it had always been that way, when they were friends, between Chase and Liz it was linked hands, and it was the same between Chase and Sharpay, but they honestly prefered the linked arms thing, so that was what they did together.

"Yeah, I know. Cos I'm gonna text her, like a thousand times just to tell her, that she should wear blue." Liz said, wearing her signature smile, as she explained her plan to Sharpay, and the blondest loved her for that, because it could always brighten up a crappy day, and that's what it did. "And you know, I'm gonna be in the bushes, when he drops her off at home." Liz shot the taller girl a mischievous look, making Sharpay imagine the situation in her head, which caused her to giggle a little. "And if they kiss, they are gonna be hearing an 'uuuuuh' noise from the bushes, so it'll be alright."

"She'll kill you for that." Sharpay warned, as they reached Liz, and she watched as Liz typed in her combination, opened the locker, dumped the books from last class in there and got out the ones she needed for next class, all the while the tiny girl was humming We Are The Champions by Queen.

"Oh no, she won't." Liz said, as she slammed her locker door shut. They linked arms again and proceeded to Sharpay's locker, which was a little further down the hallway. "I'd already be dead then. Do you realize, how many 'she's gonna kill you' moments, I've had with little ms. Chase Annabelle Feller?" Sharpay looked at her tiny friend, questions floating in her brown pools. A lot had happened during those 3½ years, they weren't on speaking terms. "Let's just say, lil' Lileebeth to your right would be even Lilee'er for all the times, she woulda, coulda, shoulda chopped my head off."

Sharpay didn't know, what it was, but Liz had a way of making her feel better. That day had started out as one of the worst ones ever, and the fact that she knew she had to make a choice regarding Troy, and that Chad and Gabriella were scheming against her, it didn't make it any better. Then there was Liz, she wasn't even trying to make her feel better, she was just being the Lilee Sharpay had always known, being her cheery self and all that. There was something about Liz, that she couldn't put her finger on, but it was great.

They reached Sharpay's locker, and she stuffed her books into it and got out the ones, she would be needing for next class. She was tempted to blow off the next class and head home, but she had made a promise to herself, that she was gonna try and be a little stronger, that she shouldn't break down at every little thing. It was gonna be hard, Sharpay knew that, because she wasn't really a strong person.

Unlike Liz, Sharpay knew when to contain herself from humming, so her books were gathered in silence, except from Liz, who was busy belting out the chorus of I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. A lot of people would have been embarrassed, and Sharpay was a likely candidate for that, but she wasn't at all. She had learned to let Liz be Liz, when Liz was gonna be Liz, and since she was always gonna be Liz, there was really nothing Sharpay could do but accept it, and that was what she did, because she loved that petite little package of crazy.

When they were sure, they had everything they needed, they headed towards Biology, which was their next class. That was another reason to maybe skip the class, Sharpay hated Biology. There was no going back now, though, cos her and Liz were nearing the class room together, arms still linked.

Sharpay glanced at her tiny friend, "You are a crazy muffin." she pointed out, remembering the first time they met, and Liz told Sharpay to call her muffin just for kids. Liz made a silly face, cos... well, she was being Liz. "Nevermind." Sharpay then said, letting it slide, because there was no way of talking to Liz now, she would have to wait after lunch, since that was when, Liz was the most normal, as she had had something to eat. Sharpay often wondered, why she was the freak, when Liz was even weirder than her. That was probably just life, and life had a tendency to be unfair.

They were now standing right outside of Biology, ready to go in, when Sharpay heard someone call out her name behind her. She turned around, and wasn't really that surprised to see Troy running towards them.

She glanced at Liz, who gave her small nod, as if they had made some silent agreement. "I'm gonna go pound on Chad for you, for being such a nasty little pompom." Liz announced, and then she went through the door to Biology, just as Troy had finally come up to Sharpay and was now standing right in front of her.

"Not now, Troy." Sharpay told him, and was about to follow Liz's example. She spun around and took a few steps to the door, but then Troy grabbed a hold of her wrist, forcing her to turn around and face him. "Let go of me."

Troy seemed determined, like he wouldn't let her go, even if she broke down in tears, fell to her knees, cried her eyes out and begged him pretty please. He wanted to talk things out, everything, and so did Sharpay, she just wasn't ready, but by the hold he had on her right then, something told her she would have to be.

He tried locking eyes with her, but she stubbornly ignored him, looking down at her feet. He thought, she was being childish, and that she could at least talk to him, if he had ever meant anything to her. They could talk through this, he knew they could, and he knew, that he could convince her, that they should keep on being friends. He didn't wanna lose her, and if friends was all she wanted to be, then so be it, cos he couldn't imagine his life without her now.

"Look at me, Shar." Troy demanded, knowing that Sharpay had a hard time ignoring direct order, he didn't know what is was with her, she just couldn't. He was right, when he'd said that, she slowly moved her gaze from her feet and met his eyes. "I'm sorry I went behind your back, Shar, I really am. Can we please talk this out?"

Sharpay sighed, why couldn't all of this be easy? She loved him, so what was the problem? She had her own ideas regarding the problem, it was her, and she knew Troy wouldn't hear a word of it, so she mostly kept it to herself. Of course she had the habit of telling him, he shouldn't be with a freak like her, and he should be with someone normal like Gabriella, cos then she'd have made him leave instead of him leaving on his own. And then there was the problem of her thinking, that she couldn't possibly with anyone the romantic way with disability, and her biggest problem was, that she didn't know how to be a girlfriend, and she was afraid to screw up and lose him.

"I don't know, Troy. Maybe, I.." Sharpay trailed off, watching Troy lit up by the mention of the word maybe. She really loved his smile, but it was still only a maybe, and when did he even expect to talk. "But it wouldn't even matter, if I wanted to. I mean, we have Biology now, and we can't very well have this talk in there. Unless you want them all up in our business?"

"We could go somewhere else?" He suggested, knowing that Sharpay was so close to giving in, so he tried his best at tempting her to come along.

"I can't do that, I skip enough classes as it is." Sharpay tried to reason, mostly with herself. She couldn't skip Biology, no matter how much she wanted to, but on the other she was curious of what Troy had to say, and it that point talking to him seemed more important than Biology. A girl had to have priorities, now there was only one problem... "Where would we even go? Y'know, if I were to come along and have that talk with you?"

"Oh, I know a place." Troy just said, being all mysterious. His hand left her wrist to intertwine with her hand, she quickly glanced at their hands together, her eyes wide with surprise at the fact, that he didn't ask to touch her, but just as quickly she let it go. He wasn't all aware of that yet, mostly because she liked his touch, though she still needed to be 'warned'. Troy noticed the face Sharpay made and chose not to read anything into it, he was just happy that she had somewhat agreed to talk to him, and then he led her to his secret place.

**IRBS**

It turned out, the place Troy knew was the roof top, where nobody ever went, but at the moment they stepped up there, Sharpay didn't get why. It was beautiful. There was only one problem about it, leave it to Sharpay to find one, it rumoured that Troy brought all the girls, he had been romantically linked to in the past up there, so it seemed like to her, that she might just be one of those.

That it should be this place, where he brought girls to, didn't go with the other rumour; that Troy Bolton went to the roof top, when he wanted to be alone and wanted a break from it all. Which one was the truth? Sharpay hoped the second one.

There were a lot of plants up there, and the sky was clear blue, not a cloud on it, and in the middle of it all stod a bench. The whole setting made it all look so serene, it was like paradise, it was a perfect place to go if you wanted peace from it all. If rumour one should turn out to be true, Sharpay was still glad, that Troy brought her up there

Like a true gentleman, Troy led Sharpay to the bench and didn't let go of her hand, untill he was sure, that she was sitting comfortably on it, and then he sat down next to her, all the while preparing in his head, what he should say to her. They hadn't spoken one word to each other the whole walk there, so it was about time they got to talking, he just had to find a way to start, and then he would be on it.

The thing was, that if he said just one thing wrong, he would have blown it forever, so it was about thinking each word over carefully and express it the exact same way. He could also speak from his heart and not think about, which he would prefer, but he didn't know if anything from his heart would offend Sharpay, so it was kinda risky. He had to make a quick decision, brain or heart? He chose heart, and if she didn't like it, then so be it, she'd realize they should be together some day.

"Sharpay, listen..." He slowly began, his voice a little shaky, because he foresaw this to be emotional. He was glad to see, that Sharpay made eyecontact with him, knowing that it could be very hard for her. "I'm really sorry, that I went behind your back with that whole Chase and Liz situation, but I only did it because I love you, and I wanna see you be happy, and if that can't be with me, then that's the way it is. I'll still go out of my way to make you happy, even if it is just as friends." He paused, when he saw her look away from him, this was obviously uncomfortable for her to hear, but she had to. "And had I known, how you would have reacted, I would have done it differently, but I would still have gotten you back with the girls. They're good for you, and they make you happy, I could see it in your eyes, when they left your house yesterday." He ran his fingers through his hair, this was tough. He prefered speaking from his hard, but it was still the hardest solution. "You have to know one thing, Shar, I love you, and what I did was out of love for you. I really, really love you, and it's as more than a friend, but I'm your friend because I want you in my life, and that's the only way. You don't want me, the way I want you, and that's okay. I'll give you all the time you need to realize, that I'm the guy for you." He paused again, that Sharpay was looking away from him, didn't make this easier, but he had to get this out, no matter what she was looking at. "I know, you're mad at me for that Gabriella incident, and so am I. I didn't see it coming, and I should have pushed her away immediately, considering how much I love you. And I'm mad at Gabriella and Chad for scheming against you, it's not fair, you've been through so much, and I wanna help you through in whatever way, you want me to. As long as you want me in your life, I'll be okay." Originally he had planned to end it there, but when she didn't turn around to look at him and bring her reply, he quietly sang to her; "_Maybe you think you're not right for me, that you'll never be everything I need, but I tell you straight from my heart; you are, you are._" And it was truth, so he really hoped by that speech, she would still have him in her life.

Having her back turned to him, she was still paying attention. She paid attention to every single time, he said he loved her, she paid attention to all the apologies for the things, she blamed him for, and she paid attention to how much, he wanted to be in her life, that he was willing to be friends, even though he wanted to so much more. She was secretly touched by the way, he cared for her, the way he would do anything for her, how he'd rather be with her and help her, than stay with those who started out as his friends. She also loved the few lines of a song, she didn't know, he sang to her, it fitted perfectly. He was so sweet and caring, and she knew, that she loved him as much, as he loved her. She had thought about the decision, she had to make all day, and now there was no doubt about it. There were risks, and for once she was just gonna jump into it.

"You say you wanna be with me?" She questioned, as she got up from her seat on the bench. She took a few steps towards the door, making Troy think she was gonna take off yet again, so he quickly got up to follow after her, but then she turned around to face him, and their faces were only inches apart. "Then be with me. But remember I warned you, I am different, I am difficult. I can be emotionally unavailable at times, I have a habit of taken things too personally, and I am not like all your past girlfriends. I need you to tell me, when you want to hold my hand, when you want to hug me, when you want to kiss me, or when you want to touch me in anyway, because I need a warning before almost every physical contact with someone. But if you still wanna be with me, then be with me."

He was surprised, he hadn't expected her to say anything like that. He had expected her to run off, but she didn't. Instead she turned around and said that to him, and all he could say now was; "Are sure about this?"

She tilted her head a little to the side, and stared straight into his eyes with those beautiful brown pools, a smile forming on her lips, and then she said; "We obviously can't be friends."

He couldn't be more happy, she did mean it. He was about to get the girl of his dreams, and he had only one question on his mind. "Can I kiss you?"

He hadn't expected her to be ready for that just yet, but then she surprised him again by nodding. He felt butterflies, when he closed his eyes and placed his hands gently on her upper arms, as he slowly leaned in, placing a long, simple and sweet kiss on her lips. He couldn't help but smile into it, when he felt her doing just the same.

_That took forever, I'm so sorry. I've been really busy, and I've been trying to handle more than I could, but I'm gonna take it one thing at a time now, and hopefully next update will be here sooner. I really hoped you liked this, even though I had a hard time writing it, so please leave a review to make it all feel better? And I apologize if I seemed mad or anything in my first author's note, because I didn't mean to, but I have a habit of doing that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and let the Troypay begin :). Please review, my luvlies :D._

_**Laters, AK-tutti**_


	10. Family Affairs

_Hi everybody, I'm back :). First of I'd like to thank you all for the great reviews, I received, I really appreciate them, and they were like insane for the last chapter. I got awesome feedback for my characters, Chase and Liz, which I'm really happy about, because I really like them myself, though a lot of you fear that they might turn their back on Sharpay, but I can almost say with certainty, that it will not happen. Sharpay has gone through some rough times, and there are still some ahead, so I feel that it would be too much to take her two best friends away from her. A lot of you also liked the way I made Zeke ask out Chase, and let me tell you one thing, I totally improvised that part, but I really liked the outcome of it, though some of you were mad at Chase, because she just ditched Liz. I didn't really give it much thought, but I get your point, though Liz is the kinda girl who bounces back, and that she did. Had it been Sharpay, she wouldn't have been able to do the same. Of course you all liked the Troypay scene, that's why you're here and reading this story, isn't it? Because you're Troypay fans. A lot of you also liked the fact, that there was no Chad/Gabriella in last chapter, and it wasn't really needed, but they're back in this chapter. I hope you'll like this chapter as much as last, and you'll leave me a review, when you're done reading :)._

_**Disclaimer; **Yeah, I really don't own a thing. Except for the plot and a few characters, of course :)._

_**Dedication;** Drums, please? This chapter is dedicated to smilingrulz! YAY! Simply because she left me the best review, and that has always been my promise, whoever leaves the best review get a dedication. I love long reviews, and she gave me one of those, plus I smiled all the way through reading it. I don't know, if I sound insane, when I say this, but her review had personality, and I think that's the main reason I smiled. So Catie (was it?), this is for you :). Oh, and I know, you wanted Chad and Gabriella to die, but I hope you're gonna be satisfied with what I'm giving to you!_

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**9. Family Affairs.**

The next day the new couple met outside the doors of the school's entrance. Troy, being the gentleman he was, had offered his new girlfriend a ride, but she had declined, feeling she'd be letting down Mr. Paperblock by taking yet another ride from Troy's car.

Eyes were on them for sure, the student body of East High didn't get, what the former basketball king was doing being friends with the ice queen. The thing was, they just didn't get, that things had more than a surface.

That day Sharpay didn't give the onlookers one thought, except the one in front of her, but he was a whole other case. He was; Troy Bolton, boyfriend. He could stare at her all he wanted and think all he wanted, cos she knew it would be nothing but kindness. It felt amazing to know.

Then there was Troy. He just couldn't believe, that Sharpay was finally his. He wanted to scream it out at the top of his lungs, he wanted everyone to know about him and Sharpay, he wanted everyone to know about his happiness. That's what he was, happy!

So the students at East High had issues about Troy's friendship with Sharpay, but they didn't have them anymore, when they saw Troy leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on Sharpay's lips, and then they linked hands and walked through the doors to East High. See, now they had different issues, and for two particular students they were EL GRANDE.

"Whatever happened to them not talking, Gabriella?" Chad complained to the latina standing next to him, this wasn't suppose to happen, he thought they were broken already. "I liked them not talking, so how come they're... all that now?" He paused and looked at Gabriella, like she had all the answers, and she just shrugged, as Chad's anger rose. "You must have screwed up. How hard is it to kiss Troy and let Sharpay see it? How hard is it to do some one on one mean time with her? How hard?"

"I must have screwed up?" Gabriella questioned, her voice streaming with disbelief, as she turned to be face to face with him, shooting him the angriest glare, that had ever featured her face. "Don't go there with me, Chad. You oughta be nice to me. I'm doing all the work, and all you've done so far is barking orders at me." She paused and shot Chad a very un-Gabriella-like look. "Oh no, wait, wait. You've done more than that, you've also dished out nasty comments about Sharpay to your team mates. But I really don't get it, because you did that, before you began your 'ruin Sharpay's life' vendetta. So don't you go on telling me, I screwed up. You screwed up."

Someone cleared their throat behind them, an award winning imitation of ms. Darbus, so they mistook it to be her and turned around to face her, fearing they might be in trouble. They were very surprised, when they saw a brunette with piercing ice blue eyes, and a dirty blonde with greenish brown eyes staring back at them instead, both with crossed arms. The brunette had that whole 'if looks could kill' thing going on, whereas the blonde failed to look angry yet again, luckily she had the body language down. Because they were both pissed.

"Listen up, Pompom and Frigid!" Chase said straight from the shoulder, as always being the first of her and Liz to speak up. "Neither of us give shit about, who either of you thinks screwed up, because ya both did." Chad and Gabriella snuck a brief glance at each other, both looking confused at this ramble, but Chase was going somewhere with it. "You let us hear about it, big mistake!"

"Yeah!" Liz quickly agreed, picking up right where Chase left off, like she so often did. "And regardless of who ought and ought not be nice to one another, y'all better be nice to Sharpay from now on." For the first time in a long time Liz was really angry, maybe you couldn't see it on her, because of her whole appearance, but damn it she was mad. They had gone way too far with their scheme, and they were gonna hear it. "I never get angry, but I'm angry now. When someone messes with one of my friends like that, Liz Kincaid doesn't play nice anymore!"

"Chase, Lil, we..." Gabriella tried to get a word in, and she really tried to sound sympathetic, and like she really regretted her actions, but neither of Chase and Liz wanted to hear it, so Chase cut her off.

"Stop Chase-ing, you have no right to Chase me." She yelled, taking one step closer to them, as she raised her hand at them, not to hit them, because she would never hit anybody. The few students who were still outside heard the yelling, and they got a little closer to the scenery, listening in on the whole thing. "I can't believe either of you! At one point in your life, you've both been her best friend, so to treat her like this now, I don't get it. Nor do I care, you don't treat anybody like that, no matter what you think of them!"

"Yeah, and don't you ever Lil me again, it's Liz to someone like you!" Liz said in a much calmer way than Chase, because she wasn't one to raise her voice, and unlike Chase she remained in her old position. "Do you even realize, how much that girl has fought for you? Do you even know, how many times we've told her, that none of you two were any good for her, and for her own protection she needed to ditch you? Do you even have clue to, how long she kept on believing in the good of you?" She paused for a few seconds, and now her speech was aimed at Gabriella. "Especially you, Montez. Even when you hurt her, when you let her down and started blowing her off, teasing her and eventually ditching her. She kept believing in your good side, even though you kept proving her wrong, she really did believe the two of you could be friends again." And now she did it, she finally yelled. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Chase could sense, that her baby Lil needed some support, so she ran back to her and wrapped her arms around the tiny girl, and then she turned her angry looking face towards Gabriella and Chad again. Just because she was embracing her best friend, certainly didn't mean, that they were off the hook, far from.

"My personal opinion is, that karma came back to bite both of you in the ass, and neither of you could handle it, so you're turning your frustrations towards the only thing, you two have ever had in common, and it just ain't right!" Chase said, now having calmed down a little, and she sounded just like one of those private detectives from those english crime shows, wrapping up a case. Of course she didn't know anything for sure, she was giving things out from her point of view. "And Chad, you've always been a jerk, no arguments there, but somehow she saw friends potential in you, and she gave you loads of good times, and you repay her like this? That's low, even for someone like you!"

"She's just getting, what she deserves. She's an icy litte bitch." Chad argued, mainly because he still failed to see, that what he did was wrong, and all he would get out of it were hurt feelings, not just from Sharpay but also from Troy, who he claimed was his best friend. And then there was Liz, he loved seeing her get wound up over things, he did or said. "She had it coming all along."

That was it, Liz brushed Chase's arms off of her, and then she stormed determined towards Chad. "I don't believe you, I spent hours yesterday trying to talk some sense into you, but you still won't see reason. I just... UGH!" She screamed right into his face, and then she did something very un-Liz-like, she pushed him, so he lost his balance and landed right on his bum on the muddy ground, and then she ran off inside.

Chase didn't know what to do, she didn't know whether to laugh or to stay angry at Chad and Gabriella. "Bravo Chad, really extravagant work. So bringing Sharpay down wasn't enough for you, now you've broken Lilee." Chase yelled again, she had chosen to stay angry at them, no matter how comical it looked, when Chad sat down on the ground, all covered in mud, because he had been pushed by a girl much, much smaller than him. "She never yells, she never gets angry, she never confronts people like that, and she never pushes people. You ruined bright and shiny Lil! Great job, asshole."

Gabriella was about to open her mouth and say something, but she didn't get the chance to, because Chase stormed away from there immediately to go find Liz, so she turned and looked down at Chad instead, and decided to speak to him. "I can see you're quite the conflict handler." She said with a chuckle, she couldn't help it, mostly because she despised Chad, and they were practically done together, she really believed she could be free from him now. "Especially towards the end, great move trying to piss them off, that worked out well for you."

"I wasn't trying to piss them off." Chad said, as he got up from the dirty ground, upset that he was now all muddy, but at the same time he was glad, he had gotten what he wanted from Liz. "I just like making Liz all frustrated, so she becomes all out of herself, she's really hot then."

"Uhm, Chad, not to meddle in your brilliant plan, but it's my philosophy that it doesn't make your crush like you, if you piss her off." Gabriella revealed, as if Chad didn't know, because she was using her annoying 'know it all' math voice. "Ah, looks like we're done here." She patted him on the back, the only clean spot she could find, and then she walked off towards the school entrance to go inside.

"I don't have a crush on her, I just think she's hot. That's all!" Chad yelled after her, but it was too late, she was out of hearing range, and then he noticed the crowd and turned his anger towards them instead, to make them scatter off. "What are you looking at?"

**IRBS**

Troy and Sharpay had just entered the school, and they were walking hand in hand down the hallways, enjoying every minute of it. They didn't have any classes together that day, so all breaks between classes were important to them. Sharpay would start the day with gym, which she really hated, plus she had Troy's dad, coach Bolton during that subject, and she knew he hated her, so she wasn't looking forward to it at all. Troy would start his day with math, and he had no idea why, because it was definitely too early for his brain to function properly. It was pure torture for both of them.

One thing they knew would get them through the day was, that they knew they were finally together. So if math got too much for Troy, he would just think about Sharpay, and if gym got too much for Sharpay, she would just think of Troy. She wished they had gym together, but they didn't and she would have to do without him, though it would have been easier with him there, considering how much Troy's dad supposely despised her.

They were really different, and it was a wonder, how two people so different could love each other so much, as they did. Even that morning, walking hand in hand, they were as different as night and day. Sharpay thought over every single detail of the day, trying to bring herself down with thinking about all the things, she was possitive she couldn't do, and that made her dread it, whereas Troy was more of a 'take it as it come' kinda guy, sure he thought about things, but not as much as she did, and he would deal with the problems, if and when they came, where Sharpay was certain that problems would come and wanted to avoid them. But they were a great match, and they didn't think about their differences themselves, which was very uncommon for Sharpay.

Troy had one disastrious event of the day, that he couldn't get out of his head. It was friday, which meant family dinner night at the Bolton house – with all the Boltons attending. Troy had tried to get out of it by saying, that he had a new girlfriend, and he really wanted to spend some time with her, if he could be excused, instead he ended up promising his mom to invite her along, because she absolutely wanted to meet her new daughter-in-law. He knew it wasn't an event, Sharpay would want to attend, considering she knew, that Troy's dad disliked her, and she wasn't a huge fan of big crowds, she'd tense up and get all quiet, but unfortunately he had promised his mother to bring her, and Troy never broke a promise.

He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, that he didn't even notice, Sharpay had stopped walking, and he only stopped walking himself, because their hands were still linked, and he all of the sudden couldn't get any further, and he was pulled out of his thoughts. He saw Sharpay was looking at him with concern in her eyes, he hated himself at that point, Sharpay shouldn't be concerned about him, he shouldn't give her a reason to be concerned like that, even though he knew it was inevitable.

"What's wrong?" Sharpay asked him, as she let go of his hand, afraid that it might be her touch, that made him space out like that. "You looked like you were in some sort of trance. It's not because of me, is it?"

"What? Of course not, what gave you that idea?" Troy offered, hoping she would take it, and that would be it. Then he saw her concerned expression again, and with a sigh he decided to tell her about family dinner night, and that she was invited. "Ok, the thing is, that every friday at my house, we have a thing called family dinner night, and all the other Boltons come over, and we have dinner together as a family." He paused to see her nodding along, taking it all in, and he knew he should go on. "Anyway I really didn't wanna go tonight, so I told my mom that I'd rather be with my girlfriend, and then she somehow convinced me to invite you along." He shot her his signature smile, before he said the last thing. "So what do you say?"

"Are you insane, Troy?" Sharpay shrieked, she was panicking. Had he asked her any other day, she would have been able to handle it better, but she couldn't handle it on a friday of all days, because she knew coach Bolton despised, and it was even more on fridays, and then if she attended that dinner thing at night, there would be a blow up of some sort. "Do you realize, that I'm gonna go make your dad hate me a little bit more soon, and then you invite me to this thing?" She looked down on her feet, she knew it was wrong to freak out on Troy like that, because he did a nice thing, and she was kinda flattered, and deep down she wanted to go, she wondered what Troy's mom was like. "Now don't get me wrong, it's a nice gesture, but why tonight of all nights?"

"Because it's family dinner night, sweetie. I love you, Shar, and if you say, that you don't wanna go, I won't go either." He told her, and it made her smile, that he wanted to ditch his family like that for her, but she didn't want him to, and what he said next made her decision about the whole thing. "It's just, you're my girlfriend, and I wanna show you off, and I know they'll love you."

"Fine!" Sharpay gave in, because like he said he wanted to show her off, and when he said that, there was really nothing she could do. He wasn't ashamed of her, and she was sold. "I'll go, if you protect me?"

"I'll protect you, I promise. Hug?" He said, and she nodded to his request, and he immediately pulled her into a sideways hug, which she giggled into. It was nice to know, he wanted to protect her, and she really loved him for that. "Just know, that I don't care, what my dad thinks of you, because I wanna be with you, and he can't do anything about that."

Now she wrapped her arms around him too, and it became more than a sideways hug, and they stood like that, untill they heard an "I can't believe that guy, I hate him so much. I didn't think it was possible, but I hate that jerk with every bone in my body!" from a soft voice, and a "Lil, wait up!" from a husky voice, and they knew immediately, who it was. They let go of each other, and turned around to find Liz and Chase coming towards them.

"What happened?" Sharpay questioned, when both Liz and Chase had reached them, but neither of them replied right away. Liz was too upset to say anything good, and Chase was out of breath from catching up with their tiny friend. "Who's the jerk?" Chase did sign language for afro, and she made it a giant one, so Sharpay knew just who it was. "Oh, the 'fro. Well, my boyfriend knows how to pick his friends."

"Yeah, and I'd like to make a halfro out of that..." Liz started off all angry, but then she realized, what Sharpay had just said, and then she got all excited, and started jumping up and down all joyful. "Oh my GOD, OH MY GOD! I don't believe it, you're a couple?" She stopped jumping up and down, and both she and Chase looked at Troy and Sharpay and were dead silent, and then they finally nodded, and Chase and Liz went nuts. "Oh my... Powder blue, Troy, you should wear a powder blue shirt on your first date. Oh, and Sharpay, you should wear a delicate pink dress. That way your clothes won't only look great on yourselves, but you'll match each other. And dear Lord in heaven, please tell me where your first date is, so I can find myself a bush!"

Chase looked at her baby Lil all amused, and happy that she seemed to have forgotten all about the jerk Chad, and then she joined in. "When is your first date? I know, you're not much of a dating person, Shar, but you must have a date type thing in the works some day?" Chase went off, all the while trying to solve the mystery in her head, she knew she could figure out, when they were going on a date, and then she saw Sharpay looking away, trying to pretend that no such things were in the works, and then Chase figured it out. "Holy Moses, you're going out tonight? What a coincidence, I'm going out with Zeke tonight as well."

"No, wait. No, no, no, no, no." Liz said all whiny, waving her arms in the air all over the place to stop this nonsense, it couldn't be happening. What was she gonna do, there lied an impossible task ahead of her. "NO! I can't be two places at once, it's no fair. One of you has got to take friday, and then the other one of you will take saturday, okay?" She paused, and glanced at all her three friends, first Chase, then Sharpay and Troy, and they were all standing there, smiling at her, because they found it all so amusing, but she didn't. "No, Liz Kincaid doesn't go splitsies! One of you will have to find another night, think of your baby Lil?"

"Well, Lileebethy, I'm sorry, but tonight is really the only night, Troy and my plan is possible." Sharpay tried to reason with Liz, though she knew it was impossible now, when she had gone all Liz on them, not that she was complaining, it was so funny and cute at the same time. So it didn't do anything to them, instead she just threw it at Chase. "So you're gonna have to talk to Chase about the whole ruining your plan issue, hon." She turned to Troy and smile at him, and then she said; "I'm off, I'm gonna go make your dad hate me even more."

She waved at them, and then she walked off towards gym, and left Troy there with Chase and Liz, who was now having a silly argument about Chase's date, and when it was suppose to happen. Liz clearly wasn't happy with the whole both of her friends having a date same night thing, and Chase wouldn't budge, she was having her date with Zeke tonight no matter what. He just stood there and thought about Sharpay, untill he had his math class, not really paying attention to their argument, all he noticed was, that Liz all of the sudden yelled 'lime green' or something like that, and then she stormed off, towards who knows where. After a few seconds Chase went the same way, they obviously had their first class together. A good 5 minutes later, Troy took off as well, and walked to his math class.

**IRBS**

Troy's day hadn't been that bad, he had survived all of his classes, and his biggest problem of the day, was when he was called on in math and didn't know the answer. Sharpay's problems had been different and bigger, she told him earlier that day, that she had totally humiliated herself in gym, and then again during english, when she had to announce to the teacher in front of the whole class, that she had forgotten her books in her locker and had brought her spanish books by mistake. She ended her day with math, like Troy had begun his day, and if he knew his girlfriend correctly, she would have found that uncomfortable as well. Of course all of those things seemed like small problems to him, but to Sharpay they were big issues, and it made her confidence shrink. He would love to help her out of that, he just didn't know how.

Another thing he wanted to help her out of, was the habit of saying, that she didn't know, what he was doing with her, and he should be with someone normal like Gabriella, because he could easily get tired of that, and if he'd have to say he'd rather be with someone special too many times, he didn't know what would happen. He also wanted her to stop refering to herself as freak, because regardless of her handicap she wasn't a freak, and she needed to realize that, and it didn't matter what other people thought about her. He knew it would be hard to convince her of that, but he knew he was the only one, who'd have chance of succeeding, and he wasn't gonna use Liz's tactic, by stuffing a grape into Sharpay's mouth, everytime she brought it up. He didn't have that many grapes, and Liz was quickly out of hers during lunch. He would find a way somehow, but all that mattered now was, when she arrived at his house, he would have to help her get through a night with the Boltons.

He watched the livingroom of his house, all the Boltons had divided themselves into small groups, where they were discussing different topics. Jack and grandpa Bolton were over in the corner by the tv, discussing a mix between sport and Jack's carreer choice. Lucy, Troy's mom, had seated herself in the couch with Mollie, her sister, and Jolene, Jack's sister, and he didn't know, what on earth, they were talking about, but if he knew her mother correctly, she was busy telling them, that Troy had gotten himself a nice girlfriend, even though she hadn't met her herself yet. John (Jack's brother), being the chef in the family, was in the kitchen, cooking, and grandma Bolton was standing next to him, and Troy could clearly hear her trying to direct her own son, telling him that's not how it's done, even though he was the expert. Grandpa and grandma Lafayette (Lucy's parents) were by the picture wall, admiring the pictures of their grandkids and reminiscing little Tynisha Bolton, bless her soul. In the other couch sat Trevor and Tiffany Bolton, his siblings, and argued over the remote, even though it was strictly forbidden to watch any television on family nights. Troy had seated himself in a chair, next to the couch holding his siblings, because that was closest to the exit, and he wanted to be the one to get up and get out to open the door for Sharpay, when arrived to the scene. Though grandma Bolton had this weird thing with opening doors, she always wanted to be the one to, so if she had to hurt Troy to get to the door before him, she probably would. She was a tough one, grandma Bolton, when grandpa Brennan (grandma Bolton's husband) wasn't with her, but he was ill that night and had to stay home, as was grandpa Bolton's wife, grandma Quinn.

Troy had told Sharpay to be there at 6, because they would be eating at 7, and when she'd had an hour to get to know his family in, then maybe dinner wouldn't be so uncomfortable for her. That, and he didn't want her to arrive with the rest of the family at 5, because that would be totally nerve wrecking for her, and he wouldn't put his own girlfriend through that. When his family met up on friday nights, they were very loud, and he knew how Sharpay felt about noise, she didn't handle that very well, and he made sure she could avoid it, when it was possible. It was 5:50 now, and he couldn't wait for her to arrive, so he listened in on his dad and grandpa Bolton's conversation.

"I tell you, dad, I have this one girl in one of my gym classes, and it's impossible to teach her anything. I can't figured out why." Jack shared with his dad, and Troy immediately guessed it to be Sharpay, from the way his dad talked about 'this girl' and his frustration about not being able to teach her, it could only be Sharpay, and Troy thought he was being a bit harsh. He knew his girlfriend, and maybe she didn't believe in herself all that much, but she always tried, what she thought was her best.

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't be a teacher." Grandpa Bolton then said, in a very firm and controlled way, and it was like he didn't get, why his own son was complaining about his profession to him, a profession he himself had chosen. Grandpa Bolton, bless your soul, Troy thought to himself, and was happy he wasn't taking any crap from Jack, or anybody for that matter. Grandpa Bolton was tough, and that's why Troy had always liked him.

"You don't get, dad." Jack tried, but his dad didn't appear to wanna listen, and Troy thought his own dad sounded kinda like a child, not a good quality. Even though grandpa Bolton didn't pay attention, Jack went on. "Today even, I tried to introduce them to this european sport, and she grabbed a hold of the ball, and it was like disaster. It's doesn't matter which sport I put on the table, she manages to mess things up. I don't think, she's all that bright."

Then grandpa Bolton said something, that made Troy love him even more, than he already did, and he said it with such a carelessness, that it Troy found it award winning; "Maybe you shouldn't question this girl's intelligense, maybe you should be questioning your own abilities to teach?"

Troy didn't get to hear, what his dad would say as a comeback, because at that minute it knocked on the door, and he jumped up to run out and get it, seeing as it could only be Sharpay. She was 5 minutes early, which he really appreciated, because if he had to listen to his dad talk her down one more second, there would be family murder. So he ran, relieved and happy, through the dining room and towards the hall to open the door, so he could let her in, but when he got to the hall, grandma Bolton already had a hold of the knob. She pulled it down and opened the front door, and outside stood Sharpay, surprisingly enough in a delicate pink dress, as Liz has suggest. Or maybe not that surprising, because he was wearing a powder blue shirt himself.

"Hello dear!" Grandma Bolton greeted Sharpay with a smile, as she grabbed her hand and let her in. Troy knew, that Sharpay found it uncomfortable to be in physical contact with strangers, but he was glad she didn't tell her grandma to back off, and she just accepted it, because grandma Bolton soon let go, still smiling at his girlfriend. "So you must be my grandson's girlfriend, am I right?" Sharpay nodded, but remained quiet. Grandma Bolton took this as her cue to introduce herself. "Well, I'm Troy's grandma, Betsy Bolton. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She extended her hand for Sharpay to shake, and it first she just watched the hand in front of her, but she eventually grabbed it and shook it, not wanting to be rude to her boyfriend's grandma. "Hi, nice to meet you too. I'm Sharpay, Evans in case you were wondering." She announced herself, and then she let go of grandma Bolton's hand. She offered grandma Bolton a smile, and then she walked over to her safety zone, which was Troy. "I.. uhm, so I suppose you're coach Bolton's mom?"

"Well, I'm the only one, who can do the job." Grandma Bolton joked, and by that she had broken the tension, Sharpay felt, and the blonde immediately took a liking of the old lady, and at least now there was one Bolton, other than Troy, she would feel comfortable talking to. "Now, we shouldn't stand out here anymore. You must meet the rest of the family."

Grandma Bolton grabbed a hold of Sharpay's hand again, and then she brushed past Troy, like he was air, with Sharpay in tow. First she let Sharpay to the kitchen, so she could meet her youngest son, Troy's uncle John. On the way to the kitchen, grandma Bolton was going on and on about things, like her and Sharpay had been friends forever, and she had obviously taking a liking of Sharpay as well. They finally reached the kitchen, where John had something in the oven, and he was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, with a clock on the kitchen table, which he was just waiting for to beep. When he saw his mother enter the kitchen with Sharpay, he quickly got up from the chair to be polite.

"Hey Johnny, I'd like you to meet Troy's girlfriend, Sharpay." Grandma Bolton introduced them, as John reached out his hand and shook Sharpay's. "This is my youngest son, John." She said, as they let go of each other's hands, and Sharpay began to study the kitchen, it being her first time in Troy's house. "I'll tell you, dear, he's a chef, but he doesn't know, what the hell he's doing, and he certainly won't listen to his own mom."

"Um, mom. Who has the education?" John said, and Sharpay could hear, he was slightly annoyed, but at the same time his voice held so much love for his mom, and for that Sharpay liked him, and he seemed nice. Well, she didn't know, but he came across as accessable, and he seemed like an easy guy to talk to, and she gathered nice from that. "Don't listen to her, Sharpay, she likes to complain."

"Oh, I..." Sharpay didn't really know what to say, and her name had been said, so she felt like, she had to say something, she just didn't know what. Luckily she didn't have to come up with anything, because grandma Bolton cut her off.

"Don't bring her into this, Johnny. You claim to be a chef, yet I've never seen any papers on it." Grandma Bolton argued her case, and Sharpay got a feeling, that she was oldfashioned and wanted things done a certain way, and her son wasn't doing it like that, he was doing it in a new way, the way he was taught in school. "Who has ever heard of lemon duck? No, I say you stuff it with prunes!"

"Mom, who here do you think likes prunes, other than you?" John questioned, trying to reason with his own mom. She was being difficult, but at the same time she was just being who she was, a traditional old lady, and a traditional duck called for prunes, at least in the Bolton family. "Haven't we always picked them out of the duck, when you served it? And almost everybody likes the taste of lemon, mom."

Grandma Bolton could see his point, but she wasn't giving up on hers just yet, she turned to Sharpay as her last resort. "What about you, Sharpay, you like prunes, don't you? And have you ever heard of a thing called lemon duck."

"I don't even know, what prunes are, and regardless of what you put them in, and what you do with the duck, I'm vegetarian." Sharpay revealed, feeling sorta bad that she let grandma Bolton down, but she couldn't really state her opinion on something, she was clueless about. "I'm sorry."

"Good thinking." John then said, and Sharpay looked at him all confused, and then he went over to the freezer and got something out, and he followed that example with some of the cabins, and he brought it all over to a kitchen table, and found a knife in a drawer, and then he started his work on whatever it was, that he had found. "So is Lucy, I'm glad you reminded me, I had almost forgot."

"Kinda figures, doesn't it?" Grandma Bolton said and looked at Sharpay with squinted eyes, like she was this whole new thing, that she hadn't figured out how to use yet, or like she was sick or something. "She's too skinny to be a meat eater, isn't she?" She looked over at her son, waiting for his reply, but he just shrugged, too busy to say anything. "Just ignoring his own mother. C'mon Sharpay, let's go into the livingroom, so you can meet the others."

Then they left the kitchen, and grandma Bolton let Sharpay to the livingroom, while she glanced at the blonde girl every now and then, like she was concerned about her well being or something, like if she didn't keep a watchful eye on her, she would colapse. They reached the livingroom, where the rest of the family was, and Troy was occupying the same chair as before, but he immediately jumped up, when he saw them entering. His family had asked, where his girlfriend was, and he had told them, that grandma Bolton had stolen her, and they weren't surprised, because it was typical Betsy Bolton.

Sharpay let go of grandma Bolton's hand and walked over to Troy, and the others watched, as he whispered something in her ear, and then he placed a sweet kiss on her lips, and put his arm around her shoulder, all protective. He let her through the room, so she could meet everybody. He started by the tv, where his dad and grandpa Bolton still were, discussing a few things. Troy figured, that Sharpay wanted to get the worst over with, and that was his dad.

"Sharpay, this is my grandpa, Timothy Bolton." Troy introduced his girlfriend to his grandpa, and all was good. Grandpa Bolton very politely shook Sharpay's hand and offered her a smile. "And grandpa, this is my girlfriend, Sharpay."

"It's very nice to meet you, Sharpay." Grandpa Bolton said, and Sharpay gave him a small nod, as if to say 'likewise', and he accepted it, and started somewhat of a conversation with her. "Now I hope my ex-wife, Betsy, didn't talk your ears off, so that there are no conversations with you left for the rest of us."

"No, mostly she just talked about prunes." Sharpay said with a chuckle, liking the protective father bear feel, she got from grandpa Bolton, as he shot his ex-wife a stern look, and she got the feeling it was mostly for fun, because she got the feeling, that he was on great terms with his ex-wife, which was good for them, seeing as it was a very rare thing. "It wasn't that bad, but I don't know, what it is."

"Enough about prunes, Betsy. Leave our son be, he knows his stuff." Grandpa Bolton said with raised voice, because it needed to get to the other end of the room, and grandma Bolton shot him an insulted look back as reply, and then she went back to her business to get Trevor and Tiffany to stop fighting. "Her heart is in the right place, bless her soul, but she has this thing with control, and she wants things done a certain way. I suppose it's a Bolton thing."

"Uhm, you know my dad, Shar, and he knows you. So no need for a big introduction." Troy quickly shot in, before they carried on their conversation, and Jack didn't say a single thing to Sharpay, he just stared at her, like she shouldn't even be there, and she gave him the same treatment of not saying a thing to him. Why should she even make the effort, when coach Bolton didn't himself.

"Be polite, Jack, that's no way to treat a lady. Do say something." Grandpa Bolton instructed, nudging his son in the side. This certainly wasn't how he had raised him. First he was complaining about his job and this girl, who he had really no reason to complain about, because when had girls ever been big on gym? And now there was this thing, where he didn't wanna say hi to his own son's girlfriend. Grandpa Bolton couldn't even recognise Jack right now. Jack still didn't say anything, and neither did Sharpay, so grandpa Bolton did, what he had to do then. "Well, go on then, Troy, move along. The rest of the family has to meet her too, don't they? It's not just me and your grandma."

Now his mom and his aunts were next in line, and they had already gotten up from the couch and stepped out into the open, eager to meet Troy's girlfriend, who they had been discussing practically all night. So when he brought Sharpay to them, it was like they were fighting to stand still from the excitement, and his mom was the worst. Sure, he'd had girlfriends before, but he had almost never brought any one them home to meet the family, and if he had, he certainly hadn't show them off this proudly, and that made them all the more eager to meet her.

"Sharpay, this is my mom, Lucy Bolton, and this is her sister, Mollie Lafayette, and my dad's sister, Jolene Trudeau." He introduced them one by one, and as he did, they each shook her hand with a smile, and he was glad by the way the night had gone so far. "This is my girlfriend, Sharpay." They all exchanged their 'nice to meet you's, and Troy felt good, that they all seemed to like her, except his father, of course. But what are you gonna do, you can't pick your family.

"I don't get it?" Sharpay said, as she turned and focused her attention on Jolene, and he was happy to see, that she wasn't being shy, like they had both suspected. "You're Jack's and John's sister, but you don't share your last name with then, and you're here alone?"

"That's because my husband is in the hospital with cancer, and we don't like to discuss it much. It's a horrible disease, we talk about my husband, of course, but we rarely mention his disease, and he doesn't want us to." Jolene explained, like she had probably explained it many time before, and Sharpay gasped out of shock, feeling really bad she had brought it up, but Jolene didn't mind, and she let Sharpay know that. "It's okay, Sharpay. You didn't know, and you wouldn't, unless you asked. I have kids too, in case you were wondering. Marc, Mitchell and Jessica, but they're with his parents this weekend, they live closer to the hospital, than any of us, and the kids like being close to their dad."

Sharpay simply nodded, she didn't know what else to do or say, it was horrible to know, that someone might lose their dad at such a young age, so instead of dealing with it, she moved her focus to Troy's other aunt, Mollie. Of course she feared she seemed rude to Jolene, but nobody said anything, so she figured she wasn't.

"You're wondering about me, aren't you?" Mollie questioned, as if she had read Sharpay's mind, which was good, the less Sharpay had to say, she felt, the better, so if Mollie wanted to do all the talking herself, it would be fine. "I'm divorced, I used to be married to this dirtbag, and as soon as I divorced him, I took back my maiden name. I'm now Mollie Lafayette."

"Y'know, that dumb sidekick dog in Aristocats is named Lafayette." Sharpay said, without even thinking about it, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand, feeling totally ashamed of herself. It was the most embarrassing thing, you just didn't say something like that to your boyfriend's family. It was one of the downsides to her handicap, she didn't always think, before she spoke. She let her hand fall to her side, and she felt she had to apologize or something now. "I am so sorry, Mollie. I don't know, what came over me. It's just, Aristocats is my favorite movie, and when you said Lafayette, my mind immediately went to it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to compare you to it."

"It doesn't matter." Mollie said, and brushed the whole thing off, as if it had never happened, and she scored some good points from Sharpay because of that. She had seriously feared, she had screwed up everything by saying that, but Mollie really and truly didn't seem to mind. What a cool aunt, she just went on like nothing had happened. "In case you were wondering about kids, I have a daughter, Sophie. Unfortunately she lives with her sorry excuse for a dad."

"Betsy's big mouth tells us, you are a vegetarian?" Lucy questioned, wanting to have it confirmed. Grandma Bolton said so many things, it was hard to know, what to make of it sometimes. Sharpay nodded, so Lucy carried on. "So am I. It's not always easy, considering that Jack's family is full of serious meat eaters. I just can't bring myself to it." Lucy smiled at Sharpay, to make her feel more welcome, after that whole thing before, she didn't wanna say anything in the near future, so hopefully she wouldn't have to. "So I hope that John is cooking up some delicious vegetarian food."

Troy could sense, it was time to get Sharpay out of there and let her meet the rest of the family, she really let that thing before nag her, even though it shouldn't. He just hoped she'd ease up again, because the night would be difficult, if she didn't want to speak. He excused himself and Sharpay, and then they went over to grandpa and grandma Lafayette by the picture wall, and they turned around to great them, just as they came over to them. It was time for them to meet each other, so Troy really hoped, Sharpay would let her slip go right about now.

"Sharpay, these are my grandparents, Giles and Catie Lafayette. This is Sharpay, my girlfriend." Troy introduced them to each other, and it was the same procedure before, with the polite handshakes and the 'nice to meet you's. Troy's family were really the most polite people, that Sharpay had ever met in her life. It was weird, and she found all the handshaking uncomfortable, but other than that it was great to meet his family. "And this was my sister, Tynisha. Remember I told you about her?" Troy pointed at the picture on the very top of the wall, it was of a girl with long curly hair, the same colour as Troy's, and she had brown eyes, just like Lucy. She could definitely see, that she was Troy's sibling, they had some of the same features.

"She's beautiful, Troy." Sharpay acknowledged, and then she did something very unlike her, she kissed his cheek, because she felt like it was needed. This was his dead sister, the sister he missed so terribly, and the one he had cried over in front of Sharpay, so a peck on the cheek for support seemed about right. It couldn't be easy looking at her picture like that, and he probably did his best to avoid it on regular days, so she needed to be there for him, like he was always there for her. "I'm sorry about, y'know.."

"Yeah, bless her soul." Grandpa Lafayette spoke up, with his raspy old voice, he was definitely a smoker, Sharpay could hear. She also wondered, if that bless soul thingy was a family phrase, because they all seemed to use it about people, they cared about, whether they were dead or alive. It was a nice trademark to them, Sharpay reckoned, she wished they had family phrases like that in her home, but her mom and stepdad were too wrapped up in themselves to ever spend time with their kids, and have a thing like that with them. "She could have gone places, she could've."

"Bless her soul, she could've, yes." Grandma Lafayette agreed, admiring the picture of their youngest grandchild, and she would always be that way to them. Then she looked at her husband with this weird sparkle in her eyes, like there was a silverlining. "At least she is with Baltimore now."

Sharpay looked at Troy all confused, since she had no idea, who Baltimore was? Was he another dead family member, none of the rest had mentioned yet, or what was going on? "He was their old labradoodle." He whispered to her, and her mouth formed an 'O', as she got it now, and Troy continued, because there was more. "He died a year ago, and they like to think, that he's now watching over Ty."

"Mr. and Mrs. Lafayette, I'm really sorry about..." Sharpay began, she was about to express her sympathy to them, even though experts said people like her couldn't do that, but that was one of the many places, experts were wrong. They may be experts, but they didn't have the handicap themselves, so screw them. Grandma Lafayette cut her off pretty quickly, though, not liking the sound of her grandson's girlfriend being so formal with her.

"Please, Sharpay, do call us Giles and Catie." Grandma Lafayette said, her husband standing next to her, nodding in agreement. They had been married for 45 years, and they were like one, they practically agreed on anything, and they were the ideal picture of a successful marriage. She smiled at Sharpay, like she was her own, and then she said _it_. "Bless your soul" Grandma Lafayette looked at her with all the care in world, because that was the way she was, caring, and then she patted Sharpay on the head, and that was Troy's cue to drag Sharpay out of there and let her meet his siblings.

When Troy and Sharpay came over to them, they were in a brand new argument. Trevor had told Tiffany, that she looked like a crazy person with bangs, and that had made Tiffany incredibly angry, and that had started the argument. Grandma Bolton stood helplessly on the sidelines, nothing she could do or say could make them stop, they were determined to fight like that, and when a Bolton was determined on something, there was no stopping them, and grandma Bolton knew that, so she had simply stopped trying.

"How about we skip your introduction with them, and I just tell you, that their names are Trevor and Tiffany?" Troy questioned, and Sharpay gave him a small nod and seemed okay with it, though she also seemed shocked, that two people could argue like that. She had thought, she had been a little harsh on Troy in the past, but this went beyond that, and she was glad she wasn't getting the traditional introduction with them, because seeing them going at it like that, she didn't feel like it. Though the person who seemed most happy with it was grandma Bolton, she was very talkative, and she liked having a new victim.

"Bless your soul, you got out of that. They are both nightmares sometimes." Grandma Bolton said, as she went around the couch to get to Sharpay, and Troy feared a little, that with grandma Bolton's big mouth, there was a possibility, Sharpay would get out wounded or worse, of course not in the physical sense. "Now let me tell you a thing or two about your boyfriend over there, he..."

Sharpay had fun, she seriously did, and she liked finding out private things about Troy, especially things about his childhood, the cute and the embarrassing, and grandma Bolton was one of the nicest people, Sharpay had had the pleasure of meeting in a very long time. It almost seemed too soon, when John came into the livingroom and announced dinner was ready, and they all went into the diningroom to sit down and eat.

**IRBS**

They were all seated around the Bolton's big dinner table, and Sharpay thought it was a wonder, that there was room for everybody. All members of the Bolton family now had food on their plates, and they were all either eating or talking, some of them were even doing both, and Sharpay really liked the way, they interacted with each other in Troy's family. Well, except for Troy's dad, he was still treating Sharpay like air, like she wasn't even there, and if he was gonna give her that treatment, she was gonna return the favor. If you looked past that one little downside, the rest of Troy's family were really nice to her, and she liked them.

Sharpay could see out of the corner of her eye, that grandma Bolton was nipping to the lemon duck, secretly enjoying it, though she would never admit it to John, but even though she seemed to enjoy the duck, she still mumbled something about prunes every once in awhile. John was sitting across from grandma Bolton, smirking at her, because obviously got the same sense from her, as Sharpay did, and she was sure, that he had known grandma Bolton would like it, him being the expert and all.

Troy was sitting next to her, and he really admired her for, how she had handled that night so far. It was even better, than he had ever expected it could be, and he had a feeling, that grandma Bolton might even want to take Sharpay home with her, and his girlfriend as much as tried to object, grandma Bolton wouldn't have that, she would just stuff Sharpay into her purse, where she had claimed earlier tonight, that Sharpay could easily fit.

Trevor and Tiffany had calmed down by now, and they weren't arguing anymore, which was probably due to the fact, that they had been seated in different ends of the table. Trevor was unusually quiet tonight, Troy thought, but as long as he didn't make a scene while Sharpay was there, it was all good. Tiffany was the only one, who hadn't said anything at the table yet, she was probably too angry to, considering her bangs were a mess because of Trevor, who had been accused of ruining her hair. It was typical Trevor and Tiffany, and Sharpay had been told that from both Troy and grandma Bolton, who always talked.

Everyone at the table had now set their mind on getting to know Troy's new girlfriend, and he wasn't sure, if Sharpay felt comfortable with all that attention, but even if she wasn't, she was doing really well. She looked calm and together, and there was no sign, that she might break down soon, so obviously she wasn't insecure or anything with his family, and he was glad about that.

"Sharpay, that's an unusual name?" Lucy said, as she looked up from her plate to make eyecontact with Sharpay. Troy could see her tense up a little, fearing that someone might say the classic 'Sharpay? Like the dog?', but nobody did she noticed, so she loosened up again. "How did you get it?"

"I don't really know, but I think it was one of those 'in the moment' situations." Sharpay explained, and sent Troy's mom a smile to be polite, and she got a confused look back, so she knew she had to explain it further. "I'm not sure, it's my own guess. It's just, in my baby book it says Cheryl Evans, so I suppose they changed their minds in the last minute."

"Cheryl Evans, you say?" Troy questioned with his signature smirk across his face, and he took it as a good moment to tease his girlfriend a little. "You shouldn't have shared that, I'm gonna call you that from now on, Cheryl."

"Troy..." Sharpay said in a 'don't you even dare' kinda way, and shot Troy a pleading look to convince him not to, but all she got back from that was a smirk and a teasing; "Cheryl!"

"No, what I think happened was, that her parents suddenly realized, that they had a too special daughter to name her Cheryl." Troy said, deciding to state his theory in the case, and secretly try to make her realize, that she was indeed special, even if she didn't wanna hear it, but here she had to. "So they decided to go with Sharpay. A special name for a special girl."

"What's so special about her?" Jack finally joined the conversation, he sat far away from Sharpay and Troy with crossed arms, and he had an annoyed look on his face, like Sharpay shouldn't even be there, and his own family certainly shouldn't treat her as good as they did, so he had to bring her down, especially because she ruined his basketball team. "I mean, she can't even throw a ball properly?"

"Remember what grandpa said, dad? Maybe you should be questioning your own abilities to teach." Troy said, defending his girlfriend. No way was his own dad gonna treat her like this, nobody was gonna treat her like this for that matter, but it was even worse now, that it was his own dad. To think that Troy had thought, that his dad was mature enough to act like, he hadn't got anything against her, so they could have a nice night, but he had obviously been wrong. "So maybe Sharpay is not the best at throwing a ball, but she has other talents, that are much more important than playing some stupid ball game!"

"Well then, go on." Jack said, and turned to look at Sharpay, expecting her to speak up now. The rest of the family was looking from Troy and Sharpay to Jack, all of them shocked that Jack Bolton was behaving like that towards a guest in their house, towards his own son's girlfriend. "Tell us about your talents?"

"I'm a decent singer." Sharpay spoke in soft and quiet voice, barely audible to those sitting at the table, but they all heard it. The Bolton's had bat ears. Jack took that piece of information as having a new way to attack her, and he didn't care what his own family thought of him at that point, because he was gonna bring her down.

"I find it hard to believe." Jack mocked, and shot Sharpay a demeaning look. Of course he didn't know, what the hell he was talking about, he had never heard her sing, but it didn't matter, as long as he could make her feel bad, it was all good. "I'm sure, you can't even hold a note, if your life depended on it. Are you sure, you wanna be so full of yourself and go with decent?"

"Let me put it this way, I'm a way better singer, than you are a basketball coach, so you tell me, how good I am!" Sharpay yelled with tears in her eyes, she jumped out of her chair and stormed out of the room and into the hall. Troy quickly got up from his chair to follow her in there. Regardless of what his dad had said, he didn't want her to go, and he was sure, that now they were out of the room, the rest of his family were gonna give it to Jack for being so rude.

Troy opened the door the the hall and went in, and there he found Sharpay standing by the door in tears, getting ready to open it and leave. He took a step closer to her to make sure everything was okay, but she pulled away from him, like it had all been his fault, because he promised to protect her, and now she wanted nothing to do with him. He had no idea, that wasn't the case, she wanted everything to do with him, she was just torn about some things.

Sharpay began pacing back and forth in front of the door, debating with herself whether or not, she should leave or stay and talk to Troy. She didn't know, she was afraid, that if she stayed, she would say something, she was gonna regret. She was even more scared, that it she left and didn't talk to Troy, she would somehow ruin them. She had no idea, what she was doing or anything, she had never been in this position before, as she had never had boyfriend before, and the whole meeting the family was unfamiliar territory to her.

All Troy could do was stand there, and let her take her time, untill she was ready to talk to him about. He thought, she was handling it much better, than he would have. Had it been him, he probably wouldn't have been able to contain himself as long, as Sharpay managed, and quite frankly he had no idea, what the hell happened in there. They started off having a good time, both Troy's family and Sharpay, and then all of the sudden Jack decided to put on his bad mouth. He couldn't figure it out.

Sharpay stopped pacing and took in a deep breath, followed by one more. In and out, in and out, trying to calm herself down, which she failed to. She could have really let Jack have it in there, because my God she could swear like a sailor, but she chose to go easy on him, though right now she was really tempted to go in there, and go for a do-over. Then she saw Troy standing in front of her, and decided it would probably be best not to, instead she did something much worse.

"Did you see that in there, Troy? Even your own dad thinks I'm a freak." She shrieked, as she pointed towards the livingroom, where the rest of Troy's family were, and tears started rolling again. "I think it's clear, that I'm not girlfriend material, so maybe you should just..."

"No!" Troy cut her off, before she even got to finish that sentence. He'd had enough of her crap, he was sick and tired of her always trying to push him away, she did it before she agreed to be his girlfriend, and she was still doing it. If she was gonna be with him, she was gonna be with him without all that, she lost her right to play that game, when she became his girlfriend, so if they were gonna make it work, she needed to stop this self-sabotaging thing, and she needed to stop figuring out reasons, why Troy shouldn't be with her, and she should also stop trying to push him away, he couldn't take. "I don't wanna hear another word of that crap, Sharpay. Nobody was using the word freak in there, and I'm telling you, that if you give me that 'you should be with someone normal like Gabriella' thing again, I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do with you. You said you wanted to be with me, so stop this game of yours, I'm tired of it."

"But Troy, I think it's best, if you got together with someone... uhm, someone like Gabriella." Sharpay argued, trying her hardest to... she didn't even know, what she was doing herself. It got hard, and she panicked, and began trying to push Troy away yet again, even though she wanted to be with him. She didn't know, what was the matter with her, her self-esteem was so low, and it had become kind of a reflex, but she didn't know how to change it, and she was so upset at that moment.

"No, enough!" Troy yelled so loud, that both he and Sharpay were startled by it, and had there been a table, he would have banged his fist into it. "If you keep this up, Shar, you might just succeed." He looked at her, and saw that the tears had multiplied, but at that point it was more important, that he set down some groundrules, than he cared about her tears. "I swear to you, the next time you say to me, that you're freak and I should be with someone normal like Gabriella, I'm not sure I wanna be with you anymore then." He paused, and saw that the news had hit her hard, and she was taking it in with heavy breaths. "So what's it gonna be, Sharpay, do you wanna be with me or not?"

She stared at him, like he had gone crazy, and maybe he had, but it needed to be done. She looked away for minute, and then she sighed, as she made her decision and looked back at Troy. "I wanna be with you, more than anything." She said, and like that she had agreed to never say those things again. Troy smiled brighter than the sun at her, because he had believed it would have went the other way, he had taken a huge risk with that ultimatum, and it had paid off.

"So can I give you a hug?" Troy asked with a chuckle, he was unbelievable happy, that Sharpay wanted to be with him more than anything, and she had said it without adding a 'we obviously can't be friends'. When she nodded, he pulled her into the most loving hug, he had ever given her, and he didn't know, if he should cry happy tears. As they pulled apart, they heard someone clear their throat behind them, and then they saw grandma Bolton standing there. "Grandma, what are you doing here?"

Grandma Bolton stepped properly into the room, and grasped Sharpay's hands into her own, before she spoke; "You have nothing to be ashamed of, dear. I know, what it's like battling Asperger's, trust me I do." Troy and Sharpay both shot her a confused look, so she explained. "Of course, I don't know from personal exsperience, but grandpa Brennan isn't really sick. He has Asperger's himself, and he can't deal with the family dinner nights, so I let him stay home, and then I give the family different excuses for his absence. Being with him and his handicap is really difficult at times, but I promised to be there for him through sickness and health, and I knew about his disability, when we married, and I'm gonna stand by him no matter what."

"How do you even know?" Sharpay exclaimed, stunned that grandma Bolton even knew, what Asperger's was, and the confused expression never left her face. Sharpay had always been told, that it was a handicap, you couldn't see, so how did grandma Bolton know?

"Oh, it's not because you were acting weird, dear, you were more behaved than my son, but I recognised some of the trademarks." Grandma Bolton explained with a smile, like this situation was the most natural thing in the world, and she even acted like she was an expert at the subject. "All people are different, of course, nobody is alike, and that counts even for people with the syndrome. The experts have just listed a number of things, and said that was it, but we all know, that these so called experts know nothing. Even though you're all different, which they don't realize, there a still a few things, that you almost all have, my husband being one of them. You don't like big crowds of people, you don't like talking to strangers, and you get uncomfortable with physical contact." Grandma Bolton patted the back of Sharpay's hand, to let her know it was all okay, and then she continued; "I noticed the way you've acted all night, and I became certain. I also noticed the little flinch you made, everytime someone shook your hand, but don't you worry dear, I was the only one who did. I noticed, how you used short sentences to talk less to people, or tried to avoid talking a little, and last I noticed your nervous eyes, being in a room full of people you didn't know."

"Grandma, why have you never told us this?" Troy questioned, he was even more confused than Sharpay. Didn't you normally share these things with your family? But looking past that, at least now he knew, why he almost never saw grandpa Brennan, because of his handicap he didn't like these family nights, he must have found them uncomfortable.

"Dear, my husband, bless his soul, is 70 years old, and he's married, and he has a great life, and he has made it out in the real world, and that goes to show, that even though you have disabilities, doesn't mean you can't have a somewhat normal life." Grandma Bolton said to Sharpay, ignoring Troy's question, there was always time for that later, and right now Sharpay needed this, she felt. "Now my son and the rest of my family in there, they have no clue, that everything is not what it seems with you, they think you're a regular girl, and they all like you except for my oldest. My son, bless his soul, has been a dumbass tonight, but he has no idea about you know what, but maybe he senses something different, that he can't put his finger on, and that makes him maybe not like you. Let grandma Bolton tell you one thing, dear, you shouldn't care about people like that, be you and be happy. You're truly special, Sharpay, bless your soul."

Grandma Bolton let go of Sharpay's hands, and then she hurried back into the livingroom, leaving behind to very confused teenagers. Who would have thought, that grandma Bolton would make a speech like that, and who would have thought, she knew about Asperger's syndrome, or have a husband with it? They were really surprised, and also a little touched by it, as it was really nice of grandma Bolton.

"I think, I should go home, Troy." Sharpay announced, she didn't think there was any reason for her to stay any longer that night, enough had happened, and she wanted to spend the weekend forgotten about the things, Jack Bolton had said to her, and when she came back to school monday, she would hopefully feel better about it. If she didn't, she'd always have Troy's shoulder to lean on. Though, there was one last thing, she needed to know, before she went home. "But before I go, you need to tell me, what's up with the soul blessing in your family?"

"I have no idea, Sharpay, but if I find out, I'll let you know." Troy said, shrugging his shoulder. He had never thought about it before, but he did it too, mostly when he was home. How much of a loser would he be, if he said bless your soul at school? "Can I give you a kiss, before you leave?" Sharpay didn't say anything, she just smiled, and Troy took that as a yes, so he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss goodbye on the lips, and then he led her to the front door. "Bye, Shar. Hope the rest of your night will be more cosy."

Then he opened the door, and she smiled at his word, before she went out of the door and waved goodbye to him over the shoulder. When she was out of sight, he closed the door and leaned his back against it, he let out a deep sigh, and felt relieved, that they had both made it through the night alright.

_Oh my GOD! Could this chapter be any longer? I have been writing on this non-stop for like two days, because I'm visiting these people, and they are so incredibly boring, that it hurts, and they don't have any internet or anything else to pass the time with, so all I've been able to do is write and write. I finished this the 21st, but I won't be able to update untill the 25th, and since there's nothing else to do, I'm gonna begin chapter 10 tomorrow (22nd). So hopefully there won't be so long between my next updates, especially if you wanna be some sweetiepies and leave the best reviews in fanfiction history. Do we have a deal? Anyway, thanks for reading this, and please review._

_**Laters, AK-tutti :) **(btw, doesn't the 24th sound so much better, than the 25th?)_


	11. Good Time With a Dash of Annoyance

_You know what I hate? I hate the fact, that I can't seem to remember, how I've written my last chapters, so I always have to open the document containing the previous chapter to find out, exactly how I did. It sucks, that my memory is that bad. Oh, and hi :). The reviews were great as always, and appreciated as always. I know some of you think, that Troy's dad is a jerk, and he kinda is, but don't hate him too much, he might be a hero. Okay, on with it, this chapter takes place a month after the family dinner night at the Bolton's (bless their souls ;b), just so you know, because it has to, and because I said so. Don't you just hate, when your parents tell you that? 'Because I said so', the backtalker in me always replied back; 'well, that's just not a good enough reason for me', and then I got sent to my room. Anyway, considering I love you all so much, I'll let you come with suggestions, of what you think should happen in this story, because nothing is really written in stone, and I'd love to hear some of your ideas. If you're like me, and you're sucker for really unrealistic and out there stories, then you'll probably propose, that they all go on a fieldtrip to the moon to collect green cheese. Okay, I need to stay on subject now, but I can't, so on with the story (please review, when you're done reading the chapter)._

_**Disclaimer;**__ You know, this girl came up to me yesterday and asked, if I wasn't that guy, who had made High School Musical, and I had to flash her to prove, that I was in fact not him. So in case any of you are wondering Nathalie Nielsen & Kenny Ortega Not the same person._

_**Dedication;**__ This chapter is dedicated to the one and only; __smilingrulz__! (again). I had a couple of reviews, I really liked, but she took the price again. I am not kidding, when I say it was even better than the last. I think, I'll start a review hall of fame, and all of her reviews to me would be on it. So yeah, this chapter is dedicated to her, because she is amazing, giving me the best reviews in fanfiction history. And because she thinks, Liz is the coolest, there'll be a special Liz scene in this chapter. So this is for you, awesomest reviewer;_

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**10. Good Times With a Dash of Annoyance.**

A lot had happened in the month after the dinner at Troy's house, both good and bad. As for Troy and Sharpay it had mostly been good, though she found it hard to keep herself from saying those things, that he did not want to hear, but she had prevented it so far. She had saved it by saying things such as 'you should be... wearing your hair like that more often' and etc. Sometimes it was difficult, especially when he sent her that 'you better not be trying to say, what I think you're trying to say' look, and then she had to think fast and say something else.

Everything was good between them, and so far it hadn't been bad at all to have a boyfriend, like Sharpay thought it would've been. Troy was caring and considerate, more than when they were just friends, and he could sometimes be concerned about her, since he only wanted her the best. He loved her, so of course he wanted her the best, and so did she for him. Even though Sharpay had only had one boyfriend, that boyfriend being her current one, she believed that he was the best boyfriend in history; when they had been together for a month, which was only yesterday, he gave her a bracelet, as he knew she loved bracelet, and it was her favorite kind of jewellery. The bracelet had the charms T B + S E, and she had already decided to wear it all the time.

Chad had been going through mostly bad things the last months, but due to his bad karma he had it coming, didn't he? Gabriella had ditched him, seeing as their mission failed, and she no longer saw any reason to hanging out with him, especially when it was totally unnecessary. He had tried to convince her to stay with him, that the battle was not lost, but she had told him, they had agreed to try and keep them from getting together, and now that they were together, they had no business trying to mess them up anymore. Chad did not like that! Even more did he not like the fact, that his popularity had fallen, ever since he was pushed to the ground by a tiny girl, it was completely humiliating the way they teased him, but at least then he got a taste of what it felt like. Plus during the last month he had discovered, that he did more than think Liz was hot, and he did more than have a crush on her; he had actual feelings for her, but she kept on rejecting his on comings, which he did not get. He was on the basketball team, he was suppose to be irresistable. It had just not been a good month for Chad.

Gabriella had been a little more lucky in the good things department. She had finally gotten rid of Chad, so she no longer had to bear with him anymore, and it was great. During her partnership with Chad, she had secretly been hoping for Troy and Sharpay to get together, so she could be done with it, because even though she felt bad for Chad and wanted to help him, she still didn't like, what she was doing to Troy and Sharpay. That was basically it for Gabriella, except for those few times where Chad had come up to her, and tried to convince her to get back in the game, and they should try and split up Troypay. She had told him no.

Chase had had a good month as well as Troy and Sharpay, and she was also about as happy as them. Chase and Zeke was now an on going thing, and they really enjoyed each other's company, and they had already said the l-word to each other, and ever since their first date they had been inseparable. Since Cheke was very happening, and they spent every living moment together, and Chase also hung out with Troy, Sharpay and Liz a lot, they'd had to tell Zeke about Sharpay's whole situation, and the great guy he was, he was of course okay with it. Chase had also gotten a highlight, yes a higlight as in one, in the right side of her hair, and she and Liz had decided, they she should tell people, she had gotten it from a great scare, in case they asked why she got it. By now she had her freezer full of cupcakes, because Zeke liked to bake for her, and she really found it sweet, but there was no way, she could eat that many cupcakes (Liz could, but she couldn't). When her dad noticed all the cupcakes in the freezer, he asked where she'd gotten them from, and even though 'Chase's dad says, she's not allowed to lie', that's what she did, because 'Chase's dad says, she's not allowed to date', and she told him that baking was a new subject in school, and he believed her.

Liz was a nutter butter, and almost nothing could bring her down, so she had of course had a good month. She was the only one in their tight little group, who was still single, but she liked it that way, and whenever Chad would come up to her and bother her, she would tell him to jump up his own ass and die, but not before having told him, that he would look awesome in white. She couldn't help it, it was a habit of hers. She had bought a straightening iron that month, so from time to time she had her hair straight in school, and she told people, it was because she had fallen flat on her face. Silly Lilee, that she was, and she had also forgiven Troypay and Cheke for each having a date on the same night, because she was that kind. Her sister had bought her an orange dress a couple of weeks ago, and Liz had asked her, if she was insane, because nobody looks good in orange, but it turned out, that Liz was a huge nobody in that philosophy. It was all good.

They had just gotten off school that day, and it was now weekend, and they were discussing, what they should do together that afternoon. Liz had suggested a snowball fight, but the rest had turned that proposal down, 'claiming' that there wasn't any snow, because it was june, and there was hotter than hot outside. Liz had been disappointed, but then Sharpay had suggested another kind of fight, that Liz seemed to like; a grass chunk fight (_a real thing, me and my brothers always have on of those in the summer_).

"What on earth is a grass chunk fight?" Troy wondered out loud, as he walked hand in hand with his girlfriend on a quiet street, with no people outside, they probably found it too hard to dare that task. Chase and Zeke nodded along, wondering the same thing. "And how do you... play it?"

Sharpay looked at Troy, like he was insane, since she had grown up with grass chunk fights. "You don't know, what a grass chunk fight is?" She questioned him, as they walked past a yellow house with a freshly mowed lawn, perfect for a demonstration. "It's very simple. You know those kind of grass chunks, that are on the lawn, right after it's just been mowed?" She paused and watched her friends nod, they knew what it was, and it had an amazing smell. She let go of Troy's hand, and went onto the lawn and picked up a chunk of grass in her hand, and then she smirked at him. He sent her a confused look, he didn't know, why she was staring at him like that, and then she threw the chunk at him, and it hit him right in the chest. "That's how you play grass chunk fight!"

Troy gasped, she didn't just do that! It was payback time. He ran onto the lawn and picked up a grass chunk, which he threw at her, but because she had grown up with these fights, she duck from it, and he missed. She had barely avoided it, and Troy could see, that with the position she was in now, she wouldn't have time to avoid it, if he was quick to pick on up and throw it at her. He was being very fast, when he bent down and picked up another grass chunk, that was being aimed after Sharpay as well as the last one, and this time it hit her.

That officially meant war. Sharpay took a huge chunk in her hand, and then she got up and ran towards Troy. He wasn't prepared for that, so she quickly caught him. She swung her free arm around his neck and jumped on his back, where she stuffed her grass chunk down the back of his shirt, and then she jumped off his back, and ran as fast as she could away from him. She knew all the dirty tricks.

It seemed like fun, so the Chase, Liz and Zeke joined in. Grass was flying everywhere, and it was everybody versus everybody. Liz quickly discovered, that a grass fight was very much like a snow fight, you could rub grass in the face of someone, as well as you could with snow, and that became her dirty trick.

15 minutes into the fight, they all had their dirty tricks. Sharpay's was the shirt thing as mentioned earlier, and Liz did the face rubbing. Troy had discovered, that it was much more effective to stuff it down people's pants, and if he was lucky enough to get it down their underpants in that process, it was all good, because he discovered, that if you got grass down your butt, it was a huge distraction. Chase's dirty trick was to shove the grass in a person's hair, and then rub it in real good, so it got stuck there. Where Sharpay did the back of people's shirts, Zeke did the front, and mostly on the girls, because that was about as annoying as getting it down your butt.

Grass was thrown everywhere, literally, and they were almost all against Troy, because of his dirty little down the pants trick, which nobody liked. They tried to revenged it, but the only one who could really catch him was Zeke, because he was in good shape from basketball. When he caught him, he forced him down on the ground, and then the girls came running with huge chunks of grass in their hands, ready to give him the biggest grass washers in history.

Troy fought his hardest under Zeke's grip, as he wasn't big on getting grass smeared into his face, like the girls were trying to do. He twisted and turned his head, making sure it wasn't still for one second, so they would get an opportunity to attack him, and that's when he was the first to notice a sixth person on the lawn. He saw a pair of sneakers, and he guessed they belonged to the girl, who lived in the house, and it would be best to get the others attention now, so they would be aware of the new person at the scene as well.

"Guys?" He tried his best to get out, though it was very hard, with Zeke on top of him, and he barely had any air in his lungs, but he did get it out. Zeke could hear, that Troy had trouble breathing, so he got off him, and Troy got up from the grass, and so did the girls. "Thanks. We've got company."

They all shot him a weird look, they still hadn't noticed the newly arrived. Troy did a funny head nod back over his shoulder, as if he was gonna say 'behind me', and then they all looked behind him. Out of all the people to own the house, which the lawn they had had their fight on belonged to, they had never expected it to be Gabriella Montez's house. They figured as much, though, when they saw her standing there, eyeing them weirdly.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriella asked, and much to their surprise, it wasn't an angry question, it was more curious and stunned, with the fact they were there. Nobody replied, and she felt sorta bad, even though it was her own fault, for having been a bitch in the near past, helping out Chad with his ridiculous scheme.

"Grass chunk fight. It's good fun." Liz then said with a smile, being herself and not sensing the tension between everybody now. She was just being silly Lilee, as they all called her from time to time. She eyed the grass chunk, she had in her hand, that she had been trying to get in Troy's face earlier, and then she threw it at Gabriella, to illustrate her point, and it hit the latina right in the chest.

"I was gonna ask, what it was, but I kinda figured it out." Gabriella told them, taking a few steps closer to them, offering them a small smile, which Liz, with her naturally smiley face, seemed to be the only one returning. Gabriella wanted to make things right again, and she wanted to be back on people's good side, but she didn't know how, so all she could do was try somehow. "Can I join you in the fight, maybe?"

The five stood in dead silence, blinking rapidly, not knowing what to say. They all knew, what Gabriella had been up to in the past, so how could she just stand there and act, like she hadn't done anything to hurt Sharpay and Troy ever, and like it was all just forgotten. She was unbelievable that girl, and they didn't know what to say, because they didn't wanna waste their time on her, starting a fight. They had to get out of there peacefully, but how?

Liz, Zeke, Troy and Sharpay all looked at Chase for help, because she had always been best under these kind of situations, coming up with a quick excuse. Sharpay was good too, but her excuses were always a little out there, like the one she used on Troy, when she accidently kissed him, 'she was drunk on tears'. Troy would always be looking down at his feet, when he came up with his excuses, and then people would know, he was lying, so he was no good. Zeke would get all nervous, and he wouldn't know, where to put himself then. Liz, well she was Liz, and who would expect her to come up with a smart, quick excuse on the spot like that, no offence to Liz of course, but that wasn't very much like her.

That day Chase wasn't all that quick to come up with something, and she knew the others expected her to, so she was under serious pressure to think fast. She couldn't think of anything original, so she shoved her wrist watch up into Zeke's face, and used the old classic; "Wow, Zeke, would you look at the time? It's getting late!" Zeke and the rest of them quickly agreed, and then they ran out of there as fast as they could, even though it was only 3:30, and the sun was high in the sky, shining directly down on them.

Gabriella watched them, as they slowly disappeared in the distance. She wanted to right her wrongs, she really did, but it was hard, especially when they blew her off like that. Maybe it was for the best, though, because she hadn't really known what to say, and she had interrupted their fun. She could see, that they were mad at her all of them, and the anger was without a doubt clearest in Troy's eyes, and she honestly didn't blame him. She had been a jerk, she knew that, and the key word was had, she was out of all the crap with Chad, he was on his own now.

When the five friends were out of sight, she could hear someone behind her, who was slowly nearing her spot on the grass. She could see the person's shadow in the grass, so she wasn't at all surprised, when he spoke his first words to her. She would notice that ugly afro anywhere, but why couldn't he just leave her alone.

"Hey Gabs." Chad greeted her, as she turned around to face him, the expression on her face not a happy one. That he even dared show up there was beyond her, and act like his self-centered, goofy smiled self, like nothing had ever happened. He had tried to destroy his own best friend and ex-best friend's happiness, and she had unfortunately helped him. That didn't matter now, the past was to stay in the past.

"Don't call me Gabs." Gabriella bid at him, and he immediately wiped the stupid grin of his face, he at least had some brain and had sensed her anger. She gave him her hardest look, and then she folded her arms to continue; "What are you even doing here, Chad? I told you, I'm done with this whole thing. They are an item now, Chad, do you get that? Has it entered your mind? They are a couple, and you shouldn't try to mess with them anymore, do you understand me? Okay, this whole thing was a mistake in the first place, and I should've never agreed to help you, trying to keep them apart. But they're together now, and I'm out. So get off my property!!" She tried to push him off her lawn, but ever since Liz had pushed him to the ground a month ago, he had been a lot better at standing on his two feet, that he didn't budge. Gabriella groaned, he was so annoying it hurt, why couldn't he just take an order and follow it. "Why? Are you sitting on the wire to your hearing aid? I said, get off my property, why don't you get that?"

"Suppose I was here to tell you, that I have secure way to make sure, that Troypay is know more?" Chad questioned, his trademark smirk reappearing on his face. He was creepy like that, and right then Gabriella couldn't imagine a meaner person than Chad. To suggest such a thing with that expression on one's face was simply outrageous!

"Suppose I told you, that Troypay is an on going thing, they should be left alone, and I don't care about your scheme anymore?" Gabriella said, in a way mocking Chad by starting her sentence the same way, that he had started his. She raised an eyebrow in a 'so, what's your answer?' kind of way, and it almost made her look snobby, but only almost. "And I think, you should make nice with them, instead of trying to break them apart. Aren't you the one, who claim that Troy is your best friend? Then why the hell are you doing this?"

Chad took a step backwards, when this weird feeling washed over him. What could it have been? Guilt, perhaps? He didn't know, and he didn't like it. So what if he had fallen a little out with Troy, and so what if they wouldn't be friends again for awhile? He knew, that his best friend would thank him some day. And he didn't care about Sharpay whatsoever, she was supposed to feel his revenge and his pain, and that was gonna be it, he was gonna leave her in her sorrow, when he finally hit her! It was gonna be so good, but he wanted Gabriella's help, and he was gonna get it back. He quickly got back to his old self, and stepped closer to Gabriella again. His plan was gonna work, damn it.

"Because it's the right thing to do, don't you see, Gabby?" Chad tried to reason her, but she didn't appear to want to change her mind, her arms were still folded, and both her brows were raised now, though she didn't look snobby anymore, just upset with him. Chad didn't sense anything, he kept talking. "And Troy's is gonna thank me some day for this, just you wait. I'm doing the right think here, you know, and good deeds always pay off in the end. And nobody cares about Sharpay, so when she loses everything, it'll be okay. Nobody cares, and when I'm done, Troy won't either."

Gabriella noticed something behind Chad, something that would surely make him regret the things, he had just said, and she could feel, she was winning this one. When her and Chad were done, he would be the one on the floor, metaphorically speaking of course. "No, I don't see it, Chad, because what you're doing is wrong, and it will come back to bite you in the ass." Gabriella said, as she kept having eye contact with the person behind Chad, reassuring the person with her eyes that it was all okay. She didn't know, how she did it, but she could see it was needed. The person behind Chad obviously hadn't realized, how much of a jerk Chad really was, and how revenge seeking he was, it was kinda sad. "And are you sure, it'll be okay? Are you sure, that nobody cares?" She unfolded her arms and pointed her finger to the person behind Chad, and he spun around to see who it was, and she was finally revealed. "She cares."

Liz cared, yes. Chad gasped, when he saw her standing there with a black hairband in her hand, which she had obviously forgotten there from earlier, and with a hint of tears in her eyes, which was a very rare Liz thing, but there she was in front of him. Tears and all. It probably meant, that she had heard everything, and she hadn't been meant to. He had been the course of those tears forming in her eyes, and it hurt him deeply. He needed to make it right, and he needed to do it quickly, he couldn't have Liz sad because of him. But before he could even decide what to do, Liz had dropped her black hairband on the grass and had run away from there, leaving him to feel defeated.

"See, that's just not the way, you act around the girl, you really like." Gabriella said in her cold way, as she walked over to Chad and placed a hand on his shoulder, to let him now that he had it coming, and then she let it fall and spun around on her heel, and she headed for the inside.

Chad watched her walk away, he watched her, as she entered her house and smacked the door behind her. Then he just stood the and watched nothing, scratching the back of his head, he was confused. This was not the way it had meant to go down, Gabriella hadn't been meant to win like that, Liz shouldn't have heard all that. Though Gabriella was the least of his problems, and he believed that he could get this plan into the works on his own, and he believed he could fool everybody with it.

Liz... He saw her hairband lie there in the grass, the hairband she had tried to pick up, when she had heard everything. Liz, was a whole other thing. He cared about Liz a lot, and if she was mad at him, he would never get everything, he wanted. He bent down and picked up the hairband, he held it in a firm grip, like it was the closest thing, he would ever get to actually touching her. And as he stood there with the hairband in his hand, he planned his next move in his head.

**IRBS**

Sharpay was home alone that day. Ryan was with Taylor somewhere, she didn't know where that somewhere was, and she didn't care one bit. Her mom and stepfather were both at work, they wouldn't be home untill late, and she didn't care about that either. To tell the truth, all she cared about that afternoon was her boyfriend, Troy Bolton. God, she loved him so much.

They were hanging out in her room, just her and Troy, doing nothing really. They were lying on Sharpay's bed, and she was resting her head and folded hands on his chest, while he was gently stroking her hair with one hand, and had his other arm wrapped around her. It was all they needed, they didn't need to talk always, they didn't need to do exciting things every minute, all they needed was to be with each other and to enjoy the other's company.

Sometimes Sharpay wondered, how she ever became so lucky, despite of having her handicap. She had never believed that she, with her disabilities, could ever have a boyfriend, but now she did, and it was even better than she had imagined. She didn't know, why exactly she was the one he loved, and she wasn't gonna ask. She wasn't gonna bring the freak thing up either, she was just extremely happy, that he saw what he saw in her. He gave her _the sweetest feeling_.

The only sounds in the room were the clock ticking and Sharpay's soft breaths, now Troy could live without the clock ticking, but he could lay like that forever, just listening to her breathing. He knew forever like that wasn't possible, but he was gonna enjoy every minute of it untill then. He had a feeling untill then would be soon, because his girlfriend got bored easily and did weird things to entertain herself. It was always quite adorable, but then she would at some point turn to bother Troy, and he wouldn't find it as adorable anymore.

"Troy?" He could hear Sharpay say, her voice soft and careful. He expected what would come next to be an 'I'm bored', but it wasn't. "Why did you pick me?"

"What kind of a silly question is that, Pay?" Troy asked with a chuckle, he knew she'd been insecure about things in the past, but those things were gone, and the way she was insecure with him now was too sweet sometimes. "But you really wanna know why, I 'picked' you?" Troy paused and took in a small breath, and then he carried on with his 'something to tell the grandkids' story. "The first day I actually took the time to look you in the eyes, I knew you were it. That's why I picked you, because you're it for me. Is that okay with you?"

"I'm it for you?" Sharpay then asked, her voice touched with emothing, and Troy could almost sense the happy tears in her eyes, and he wrapped his one arm even tighter around her, as if to say, that she really was it. "Do you suppose we'll have kids someday? That is if I'm able to have kids?"

Troy got a weird expression on his face, and decided to speak his mind right away, and wipe that freaky frown off his face. "Why wouldn't you be able to have kids?" He questioned her, and it was because he needed to. It was silly sometimes, all the things Sharpay thought, she couldn't do or couldn't have because of her thing, and wasn't she the one, who had told him off, when he tried to treat her like this fragile little girl back in the days. "Weren't you the one, who told me, it wasn't physical? Then surely you're able to receive that kind of blessing." He became silent, as he thought her question over, and it brought a smile to his face, when he went to reply. "And I know we'll have a little girl someday, named Cheryl in the honour of her mom." They were both dragged into their own little private dreamland, as Troy continued to speak. "She'll have brown eyes just like yours, and chestnut brown hair from my side. She'll be as beautiful as her mom, and as athletic as her dad, and she'll be the most loved little princess in the entire world."

"Little Cheryl Bolton?" Sharpay thought about the name out loud, and at the same time thinking it over in her head. She really liked the idea of it all, when they became old enough for that, and she really liked, that Troy was the one who came up with all that. He was different from guys their age, most guys their age wouldn't talk about kids like that. "Do you think, we'll ever get there?"

"Ever get where?" Troy wondered, though he had a feeling he already knew where, and he was gonna be honest with. "To the point where we are married and have kids? The chances are great of that, I have no intentions of ever letting you go, so unless you have a phobia of getting married to hunky basketball stars, I'm pretty sure we'll end up married with kids."

A silence fell upon them again, and it was a nice and comfortable one, because of the subject they had just talked about. Sharpay was insanely happy, that Troy thought like that into the future, and that he wanted to marry her and have kids with her someday. It was an amazing feeling, especially considering the fact that when Sharpay was 15, she had someone read her hand, and the fortune teller had told her, that her first boyfriend would also be the guy, she would marry, and the way things were now, maybe it would be true?

Troy was very glad, that Sharpay had brought all of this up. It was nice to tell her those things, because he thought about their future all the time, and to be able to now share that with her was great. He wanted it all with her, because like he said earlier, she was it for him. He wanted marriage, he wanted kids, he wanted everything with her, and for a guy who only had 4 months left of being 17, that was quite a lot to want. And ever since that family dinner, where Sharpay revealed, she were supposed to have been named Cheryl, he had wanted that name for their future daughter.

"Troy?" Sharpay broke the silence, and he could hear she was being careful with her voice, and she was shy about, what she was going to say next somehow. He even anticipated her not to say it, but she carried on with a soft voice. "I love you."

Troy chuckled, because the way she said it was just too cute, though he didn't doubt her words were true for one second. "I love you too, Shar." He then said and kissed her hair, while he was still stroking it - he never actually stopped, and then he added; "More than anything in this world."

They would have laid like that forever, if they hadn't been interrupted by an evil little thing, called a telephone. They had been lying there for hours in the same position, and then the phone rang, and it was all, when Sharpay rolled off the bad in a comical way to go pick it up. She stood in front of the phone, waiting for the fifth ring to pick it up, she always did that. It rang for the fifth time, and she finally answered the stupid thing.

"Beauty is here, who's there?" Sharpay greeted whoever it was one the phone with a cheerful voice. She always said that, when she answered the phone, it was kinda like a trademark, and Troy loved that about her, so he never doubted who he got, when he called over there. "Lil, Lil, Lil... LIL, stop crying, please. I can't understand a word, you say."

Sharpay paused, listening to whatever Liz was saying, while Troy thought to himself, that he couldn't believe, that Liz was actually crying over something. It was a long ramble from Liz, Troy reckoned, as he couldn't really hear anything, all he could hear were those muffled sounds, you could always hear from afar, when someone's on the phone. It seemed like forever, when Sharpay finally said something again.

"Ok, so you went to pick up the hairband, then what?" Sharpay questioned her friend on the phone, and for once she was actually the calm one in a situation like that, she was showing her strength, and Troy liked that. Sharpay listened to her friend again, and then she replied. "Oh, my God! He said that?" Pause, Liz said something. "But baby Lil, that's not something, you should worry your pretty little head over. Chad obviously has issues with me, and that's fine. As long as we don't let it bother us, he won't win. Ok, Lil?" Liz said something again, and Troy guessed, that she agreed. "That's good thinking, Lilee. Bye now, and remember that jerk doesn't deserve a spot in your mind."

Sharpay hung up the phone with a sigh, then she went back to her bed and sat down next to Troy, who had moved from lying down to sitting up straight. Lying in Sharpay's bed just wasn't worth it, if she wasn't next to him. She looked him in the eyes with her chocolate brown eyes, and he knew, that whatever Liz had called about had upset Sharpay too.

"What did Liz call about?" Troy asked with curiousity in his voice, and at the same time he tried to sound cheerful to calm Sharpay down somehow. She didn't say anything to him, but that was okay, he knew that she sometimes needed time to think about, what she wanted to answer to certain things. She wanted to sound her best, she didn't wanna sound like some immature brat, or something like that.

She sighed again, a long and defeated sigh. She didn't know, what to do about her old friend anymore. "It's Chad." She then revealed, looking down at her hands, as she let the tears roll down her cheeks, one by one, slowly. "Liz overheard him say some things about me, and she got upset." Sharpay forced her eyes shut, she was struggling with what to say, because she was angry beyond words. "He's won, Troy. I don't know, what to do anymore, he's won."

"Shar... Can I give you a hug?" Troy had to ask, because he knew, that's what she needed right now, as that's what he would need in her place, and he also knew, how she felt about people touching her without permission, so he had to ask. Sharpay looked him deep in the eyes, and finally she gave a small, insecure nod, and he opened his arms for her to lean into, which she did, and he wrapped his arms around in a tight, comforting way. "Like you said to Liz, that jerk doesn't deserve a spot in your mind. It's simply too precious for that. You know what Chad's game is, and the only way he's ever gonna win is, if we let him break us apart, and that's never gonna happen, so Chad is never gonna win. Do you get that?" Troy locked eyes with Sharpay, waiting for some sort of answer, and then she nodded her pretty little head again. "Good! I'm gonna kiss you now, okay?"

Sharpay lit up, because what Troy had been saying was absolutely right, though she had still tears in her eyes. When he said, he was gonna kiss her, it brought huge smile to her face, and then he placed a sweet, little kiss on her lips. It was the kind of kiss she prefered, and she loved him deeply for it.

**IRBS**

Liz hung up the phone with a sigh. Sure, talking to Sharpay had helped, but she was still really upset with, what had happened. She had really believed in the good in Chad, especially since he hadn't done anything official to hurt Sharpay the past month, so he had her fooled, that he'd changed for the better. She was let down, big time, and she didn't know, why it bothered her this much, because it shouldn't, it just did!

She threw the phone on her bed, and started walking back and forth in her room, grabbing her hair in annoyance. She didn't know, what to do with this feeling, because it wasn't natural to her, but ever since that pompom had come back into her life, she had experienced feelings, that Elizabeth Kahlen Kincaid had never felt before. She was feeling annoyed, she loathed Chad with every tiny little bone in her body, and those emotions were beginning to get to much for the little girl, since she had really believed, he was slowly beginning to change.

Ugh, she didn't know, what the hell to do. And why did the thought, that she could change him, keep entering her mind? It was a lost game, she should know that, she should know, that Chad was always gonna be out to hurt others, and there was nothing she could do about it. And what was it, that Sharpay had said? She shouldn't worry her pretty little head about Chad! She knew her blonde friend was right, but she still couldn't help it.

With an exaggerated sigh, she threw herself on her bed right next to the phone, which had gotten the same treatment a little while earlier. She grabbed the pillow at the top end of the bed, she covered her face with it and tried to scream all of her frustrations into it, but it didn't help. When she finally accepted that fact, she removed the pillow from her face and threw it back, where it belonged. She hated Chad for all these new emotions, emotions that Silly Lilee shouldn't be able to feel, because she was Silly Lilee; the cheerful, upbeat and silly girl, but now she felt frustration and defeat, and she didn't like it.

Her once so colourful world had turned so grey in one afternoon. Argh, why did she have to go back and get her hairband? Why couldn't she just have thought in her brain, that goody goody Gabriella would get it back to her, and leave it there? The answer was simple to her; she was Liz, she was too clueless to get one wise thought. That's why she went back there to get the thing, that would complete her outfit, and what did she get out of it? She got her hope shattered, and she didn't get her precious hairband. That's what she got out of it!

She could just... she was ripped out of her thoughts, her rare thoughts, when someone knocked on the door. Liz didn't even bother to say come in or anything to the person, because nobody in her house respected the word privacy. Well, her dad did, but her mom and siblings didn't, and her dad was at work during the day, so it could only be one of the others, so why bother saying the words, when they would just barge in anyways?

She was right. The door was opened, and Liz's mom stuck her head into the room and gave her oldest daughter a smile, almost crossing over to be a smirk. Why would she smirk like that? Liz rolled her eyes, but her mom didn't notice that, otherwise she would have been given the lecture of 'you shouldn't roll your eyes at your parents', so she was a little thankful for that. She disliked lectures from her mom, and she disliked her mom, period. She was a 'Daddy's Girl', a daddy who was never really home.

"What do you want, mother?" Liz asked, trying to cover up the annoyance in her voice and in her eyes, but it was a little too hard, especially since she spoke through gritted teeth. It had become quite a habit, when she spoke to her mom, and unlucky for her, her mother sensed the annoyance this time.

"Elizabeth Kahlen, that's no way to speak to your mother!" Her mother lectured, and Liz fought the urge to roll her eyes, but barely. Then something weird happened, her mother dropped it just like that, so something important must have been up or something? Liz had no idea, but now her mom revealed why she had entered her daughter's room. "Now, I'm just here to tell you, that you have company. A boy."

A boy? Oh, that's why her mother had that weird smile on her face, when she entered Liz's room. It made sense now, but who could the boy be? Liz never really hung out with boys much, except for Troy and Zeke, but that was because they were Sharpay's and Chase's boyfriends. Other than that, she didn't hang out with boys, so she couldn't figure out, who on earth it might be.

"Just... send him up, mother." Liz told her mom, this time she didn't say it through gritted teeth, as she had completely forgotten her annoyance towards her mom in her curiousity. Yep, Liz was a curious kid, and that's why the decision had been easy. She hadn't really been in company mood, but the thought of never knowing who it had been would have killed her.

Her mom simply nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Liz alone with her thoughts once again. They didn't revolve around the visitor, though, it was about other things. Mostly why was she still bothered, and why couldn't she let the Chad issue go, why was it so important to her? She could call Chase and have a conversation with her, but then she would be interrupting hers and Zeke's private time, and she didn't want that. Why did it bother her, if she interrupted their alone time together? She had done it with Troy and Sharpay?

Maybe because she didn't really know Zeke, or know how he would react to it? She had known, that if she called Sharpay, neither of her and Troy would be bothered by it much. That, and Sharpay had a way of calming her down, when Liz got upset (which didn't happen often), even if she wasn't calm herself. Liz liked that about her friend, and if she had upset Sharpay by what she'd told her, she knew that Troy would be there to calm her down. That's not to say, that Chase wasn't good to talk to in these kind of situations, but she's like the calm, collected, mothery type in the group, always concerned about others, and Liz could feel that wasn't, what she had needed the minute she called Sharpay.

She loved Chase and Sharpay, like they were sisters to her, and they knew how to be silly with her, which was good for her. Sharpay had a habit of getting silly, when she was bored, or when she just wanted a laugh, and Chase could just turn it off and on. Though next to Liz, they were rarely ever silly and all that she was, 'bright and shiny' as Chase had put it, which was good because it made them, and it also did so they meshed well together. It was weird, because they were so different; Sharpay was the emotional, insecure one. Chase was the calm one, who was always concerned about her friends. She herself was the one, who was totally out there, being silly and saying entertaining things. That's not to say they were like that always, Chase certainly wasn't calm always, far from. Sharpay wasn't always emotionally, she could be strong and stand up for herself, if she had the faith. And Liz, well didn't the moment just now in her bedroom show, that she wasn't always bright and shiny?

Though no matter how much her girls had helped her in the past, especially Chase, none of them could help her with this Chad problem. She had wanted Sharpay's help, yes, and she had gotten her message loud and clear, but even though Chad didn't deserve a spot in her mind, he had still got it. He needed to move out, Liz had decided, but how she got him out of her brain, she hadn't gotten that far yet. That's what she needed to figure out.

Someone knocked on the door again, and Liz got off the bed to go open it, but before she did, she fixed her outfit so it wasn't all wrinkly. She walked over to the door and opened, and the other side revealed the person, who had consumed almost all of her thoughts that afternoon; Chad Danforth. She wanted to slam the door in his face, but he already had a foot inside the door, so unfortunately she had to let him in, closing the door behind him, so the rest of the Kincaid's would hear their conversation.

"What do you want?" Liz questioned him, trying to sound harsh, but once again her voice failed to do so. She sat down on her bed and folded her arms, at least that way she could get the point across, that she was angry with him. "After this afternoon I can't believe, you have the nerve to show up here."

"Officially, or?" Chad asked with his signature grin, attempting to be charming, but failed miserably. Liz sat on her bed in deep silence, so he had guessed, she didn't find him charming whatsoever, and she had that 'get on with it' look on her face, so he thought it would be best to do so. "Officially, I'm here to apologize for the things I said earlier this afternoon. I'm really sorry. Unofficially, I'm here to give you this."

Chad reached into his pocket and pulled out Liz's black hairband, which he offered to her, but she still refused to move. He couldn't force it on her, so he looked around and found a little empty spot on her desk, where he put. Then he turned back to Liz, hoping to see that she had shifted her position just a little bit, but no such luck. He got a disappointed look on his face, though he quickly lit up again, when he heard the sound of her voice.

"It takes more than sorry, Chad." She explained to him, her voice matching the disappointed look, he'd had on his face a few seconds ago, and he hated that her voice had that quality, because he had never heard it before, and he hadn't believed, that disappointment was an option in her voice. "Sorry is just a word, which is thrown around too much without meaning. You need to prove, that you're sorry to me. I don't need it in words, and I don't need it in gestures, such as you bringing back my hairband. I need you to really show, that you mean it." She sighed and looked away for a few seconds, and when her eyes were back at Chad, he had seated himself on a chair, figuring this could take time. "How I wish to believe you, Chad, when you say, that you're sorry, because I don't believe in people being mean like that. And I could accept your apology right here, right now, but I'm not sure you mean it. And how can I be sure? How can I be sure, that it's not just words, like I think it is, and you won't go back to bad mouthing Sharpay tomorrow? If you wanna apologize the right way, and if you truly want my forgiveness, then it has to be because you're done messing with her. Otherwise I can't even consider it."

The things she said took Chad by surprise, because he had never in his wildest dreams imagined, that Silly Lilee would have that kind of depth, and it just made him like her even more. Sitting there without kissing her, without holding her in his arms, it was too hard almost. Everytime he heard her voice, she was too irresistable, and he wanted her. He wanted her forgiveness, he wanted the natural smile on her lips, and the natural glimpse in her eyes to be reserved for him, he wanted everything about her, but how? How could he get all that, when he wasn't ready to let this Sharpay thing go? She had hurt him too much, so he couldn't.

Then there was his plan, he could get Liz through his plan, his plan where he was gonna make them all believe; Troy, Sharpay, Chase, Zeke, Gabriella, Liz, everybody, that he was done messing with Sharpay, and then hitting her hard. It was the final mission in his scheme, and he was positive, it was gonna work, and it would also leave him looking totally innocent, giving him the chance he wanted with Liz. Now was the perfect timing to make Liz think, she had changed him with her words, and make her think he was ready to make nice, so when Troy or Sharpay would doubt his motives, Liz could guarantee them, that his motives were as 'pure' as they could be.

Lying probably wasn't the best way to start the relationship, he longed for with Liz, but it was the only way he could think of, so that's the it was gonna be. Sharpay would get hurt, Troypay would break up, and he would look totally innocent. Liz would probably get upset on her friends behalf, and seek comfort in Chad, or seek him to comfort him for his failed attempt to make nice, either way he got his Lil.

"Ok, I'm ready to make nice. I'm willing to let my grudge go, for you." He informed her, and he was gonna let her in on the plan, he had tried to convince Gabriella to be in on, though he was gonna leave out the details, that it was actually to break Troypay apart, and hurt one of Liz's best friend's. She would be left without a clue of that. "I was thinking, maybe I throw a make up party at the beach, because I know Sharpay loves the beach, and I invite everybody, and I'll let everybody know, that I'm done with my game. That I wanna be friends with Sharpay and Troy again, and that I approve of Troypay. What do you think of that? I thought of it, when I realized just how much, I was hurting people, and couldn't bear it. Will that make you forgive me?"

Liz finally unfolded her arms, and she seemed to think Chad's idea over. "If things go well, then maybe." Liz then said, thinking why the hell not? Chad seemed genuine, so why not give him hope of the forgiveness, she intended to give him, now that she knew, he had actually changed. "Just don't invite too many people, you know how Sharpay dislikes big crowds. They make her uncomfortable and all."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of that. Thank God, you reminded me." Chad assured her, offering her one of his soft smiles, as he thought to himself, that it was exactly what, he was gonna do; invite lots of people to make Sharpay see, that she didn't belong in Troy's world, and then they would hopefully break up. He moved from the chair to the bed, next to Liz, keeping the soft smile on his face to keep up appearance, so she would continue thinking, that he had actually decided to make nice. "I'm so glad, I ran this by you first. What if I hadn't, and I had invited all sorts of people, and then the concept of the party would have been totally lost in that? It's supposed to be a party, where Sharpay and I can be friends again, and if I hadn't come to you, we probably would have drifted further apart over this party. Thank you so much, Lil."

Liz couldn't help but smile, because was really worked up about the fact, that he could have invited too many people to that make up party of his, and it made her believe in the good of him even more. As she sat there and looked at him, when he had that nice looking smile on his face, she couldn't think of anything to do, except hugging him. So that's what she did, she threw her small arms around him, and gave him a soft, appreciative hug, making Chad's heart soar high in the sky.

**IRBS**

Troy and Sharpay had moved from her room down to the livingroom, where they were watching one of her favorite movies, Snow White with Kristin Kreuk in the lead, and it was reaching the end. So it wasn't exactly the type of film, Troy would watch, if he was on his own, but he wanted to make Sharpay happy by agreeing to watch it with her, and now that it was near done, he had to admit, that it wasn't half bad. He would definitely recommend it to his littlesister, Tiffany.

He heard a rumbling sound, and looked down at the clock on the VCR, it was nearing 6 O'clock, so it could either be his own stomach, or Sharpay's. He stomach didn't have that rumbling feeling, so he guessed it was probably Sharpay's. He'd swear to God, that his girlfriend did not know how to eat properly, and he didn't know why. He knew for a fact, that the girl didn't eat breakfast, unless she felt pressured into it, and he also knew, that she only ate a tiny amount at lunch, and she didn't eat much at dinner either, he discovered that, when she was over at his family dinner. She didn't do those small meals in between of the supposed big meals, either, unless he gave her something, and it could worry him a little, but she seemed healthy, so he wouldn't bring it up.

Her stomach rumbled again, as the movie ended, and he decided, that it was time to get her something to eat somehow. "Someone is hungry." He pointed out, giving Sharpay a look, so she knew he meant her. He hadn't been given a specific time today, that he should be home, so he and Sharpay had agreed to have dinner together at her place that day. He was getting a little hungry too, and at least he could feel it, when it was.

"Who me?" Sharpay asked, her voice as confused as her face. She didn't feel any hunger, though her stomach did rumble, but she wasn't always hungry, when it did, otherwise she would eat a lot. Troy nodded instead of saying yes, and she thought he was being weird, she wasn't hungry at all. "I'm not hungry, maybe it's you?"

"Yeah, maybe I'm a little hungry too, but it's your stomach rumbling, not mine." Troy tried to reason with her, and she did the same at he did, when her stomach rumbled, she glanced at the VCR clock and saw the time. She looked at Troy with a pair of eyes, that let him know, she was beginning to get his point. "You didn't think, it was that many, did you?"

Sharpay shook her head, because she really hadn't. "No, I hadn't." She confirmed, while trying to figure out, why she wasn't feeling hungry at all, when her stomach obviously disagreed with her. "Maybe we should eat something? I just don't get it, I don't feel hungry."

They both got up from the couch, they had been seated in, and began making their way towards the kitchen, Sharpay walking a little bit in front of Troy, it was her house after all, and Troy didn't feel right entering a room before her. It was a long way, before they finally reached the kitchen, and Sharpay stood still, looking around all confused, because she had no idea, where anything was. It really wasn't a room, she spent much of her time in, so she had to go cabinet hunting to figure out, where everything was.

Troy watched in amusement, as his girlfriend ran around in the kitchen, opening everything that could be opened, so she could find out, where each thing had its place. Then she stopped in her tracks, right in front of Troy, and she looked at him with her big, brown eyes, like she was lost or something.

"What do we wanna eat?" She then asked, because there was really no point in her figuring out, where everything was, when she didn't know, what was needed. "I mean, that was just a waste of time before, I don't even know, what I'm searching for." She paused, as she realized another dumb mistake. "I don't even know, how to cook either, so if I found something remotely interesting, what am I to do with it?" She took in a deep breath, and then she sent Troy a couple of pleading eyes, as she carried on. "Now, what do you want?"

"First of..." Troy began, as he let Sharpay over to one of the barstools in the kitchen. "I want you to let me cook, and then I want you to sit there and relax, while I work my magic, because you do know, that I have chef blood running through my veins." Troy left Sharpay on the stool, and walked over to drawers between the fridge and the zink, where he opened the top one, and wasn't surprised to find knives, forks and spoons in there. He picked up a knife, and then he turned around to face Sharpay, offering her one of his price-winning smiles. "Prepare to be dazzled!"

Sharpay giggled, as Troy turned his back to her again, and then he began wandering around in the kitchen, finding different things he needed for, whatever it was he was making. Sharpay didn't dare speak, because he looked so determined to make her a good meal, to do good things for her over all, and she thought he was cute like that. The feeling she got, when she watched him 'work his magic' in the kitchen, couldn't be described with words, but she was pretty sure, that they took love to a whole new level.

She wasn't even worried, like she was when either her mom or stepdad cooked, because she knew, that her amazing boyfriend would remember, that she was a vegetarian. No, she wasn't the least bit worried, when she couldn't see, what he was making or anything, because she trusted him, not just with this, but with everything. She would trust him with her life, as she knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her, if he could help it.

She considered the possibility of Troy making her favorite food, but she couldn't remember, if she had ever told him what it was, so she figured he wouldn't, unless he somehow liked it too and had a craving for it. Even if she had told him her favorite food, the chances of getting it for dinner were still slim, since it was such a childish dish, but she was still hoping for it, she liked it so much.

After about 10 minutes of hard work, Troy placed two plates on the table, one in front of Sharpay, and one in front of himself at the barstool, he was now occupying. Sharpay offered him an appreciative smile, and then she looked down on her plate to see, whatever it was he had made for them. There on her plate lay two pieces of rye bread with banana. She looked over at Troy's plate, and he had the same on his. Her favorite, so he did know.

The only issue she had with it, though, were the two, let's underline two, pieces of bread on her plate, that was just one too many, she wasn't used to eating that much for dinner, but then she looked at Troy and saw him smiling at her, and then she decided to do so anyways. Besides rye bread with banana tasted so good, that it could hardly kill her, so she was gonna take this one for the team.

Sharpay was about to take the first bite of the delicious treat in front of, when she heard a throat being cleared behind them, and she got so startled, that she fell off the stool and landed on her butt on the floor. She quickly got up from the floor, rubbing where it hurt, as Troy jumped off his stool in a much more classy way, and they turned around to face the person at the same time, and then they saw Chad standing there in front of them.

They both didn't know whether to be angry or not, seeing their old friend stand there was a huge surprise, so they didn't know, how they should react to it. All Sharpay could think about, was how on earth he got into her house, didn't people usually knock? She got scared. Troy thought, that it was unbelievable, what nerve he had to show up like that in Sharpay's house, after everything he had done to hurt her, to hurt them. He didn't belong in that kitchen, that much Troy was sure of.

"What are you doing here?" Sharpay questioned, her voice hard and demanding. She had decided to be angry with him being there more than anything, because he had ruined a perfect day by his appearance. He only had to stay there 5 minutes to ruin the rest of Sharpay's day, so she had to get him out of there fast to prevent it. "What now? You make home visits?"

"Whoa, retreat the claws, girl!" Chad exclaimed, holding his hands up in defense. He wasn't there to cause them hurt, the party would take care of that, when they went to it. "I'm not here to cause any kind of trouble, I'm here to apologize, because I'm really sorry for all the things I've done to you."

"Chad, get out of here. You honestly don't expect her to buy that?" Troy yelled, taking a step closer to Chad to be in front of Sharpay, defending her. "You've tormented her for years, and now you expect her to let it go, just because you claim to be sorry? That's not how things work, why on earth would she do that?"

Chad smiled, a friendly smile, a smile Sharpay hadn't seen from him in a long time. "First of all, because it would be a nobel thing to do, and it would make her the bigger person." He explained to them, hoping they would buy this whole thing, as easy as Liz had done it. "That, and I'm throwing a make up party at the beach, not this weekend but the next, to show everybody that I'm sorry for what I've done, and that I wanna be friends with you all again." Chad got eye contact with Sharpay, and saw she was slowly giving in, though she wasn't much of a party person, and he knew that, that's why he had thrown in the beach thing, so she wouldn't think about that. Troy, on the other hand, didn't look like, he was having any of it. "Now, it's all for you, so if you're not into the whole beach party thing, we can do something else. I just wanna be your friend again."

"I don't know, Chad." Sharpay trailed off, and then she looked at Troy for help, and he shook his head, as if to say she shouldn't go for it, that she shouldn't believe her former friend, and she valued that. "It sounds too good to be true, honestly. I wanna believe you, it's not that, but given our past it's just too hard to, you know?"

Chad's smile faded, that's not how he'd thought it would go. He hadn't thought, Troy would be against it like that and drag Sharpay with him, he had thought, that Troy would be up for the idea and drag an unwilling Sharpay with him. Now he saw it wasn't like that, and he knew Sharpay wasn't one to drag people into things, she was too weak for that, so he didn't know, how he should convince them anymore.

"I don't know what to say, guys." Chad said, deciding to make a sob story up, as he went along. If he did that, then maybe they would both take the bait, he couldn't be sure, but it was his only hope, it was all he had, so he had to try it. "I come here, finally with the best of intentions, and you turn me down like that? It's pretty heartless. I just wanted us all to be friends, but you're obviously to cold hearted to see it from my point of view. I really hoped, we could be friends again, but I was let down."

Final touch was, that he looked down at his feet to get the point across, to make them get just how 'sad' he was, and how much he wanted to be their friend again. He had to keep looking down, untill they made their final decision together, which he hoped would be in his favor. He didn't know, if Troy would by the sob thing, but he had thrown the ball to their court, and feet watching was his part now. Please, buy it, he thought.

"Sharpay, he used to be my friend, but I don't trust him anymore, what do you think?" Troy asked his girlfriend, facing her again. This was a hard decision to make, he didn't know if he should give his old friend another chance, because he certainly hadn't deserved it, but Troy had always been one of those guys, who always looked at the best in people, and he also believed, that people could change, so maybe Chad had? He didn't know, it was too hard. "I... I'm torn, it's up to you, Pay."

"But I don't wanna make this decision on my own, Troy. You please do it." Sharpay pleaded him, giving him the puppy dog eyes, the ones he couldn't resist, when they came from her. He fought hard not to give in, because neither of them knew how to make this difficult decision. "I'm way more torn than you. I would want the old Chad back, but I don't know, if he can be that guy anymore, so I don't know what to do."

"That's how I feel, too." Troy quickly agreed, as Chad got more and more annoyed over the fact, that they could just make a decision, but unfortunately he had to be patient, so they would think a little more, that he had actually changed for the better. "I want my old friend Chad again, the one who isn't all grudged up. One, who can accept the girl I'm with and be friends with her. What do we do?"

"I... you know him best." Sharpay lied, both she and Chad knew she lied. They used to be best friends, from when they were in diapers, untill they were 14 and 13. It had been about 4 years, since Sharpay ditched him, but he hadn't changed much, so they both knew, she was lying her nose long. The only one who was clueless at that was Troy, he had no idea, what kind of past they had, he just knew they had been friends once. "What do you think, we should do? I mean, if you could do without his friendship, then that's fine. If you miss him, that's fine too. As long as you make a decision."

"I..." Troy struggled with what to say, it was a long time, think it over kind of situation, but they didn't have that. It had become a right on the spot situation to them, so he had to figure it out right then and there. He didn't know what to say, and he was quiet a very long time, untill he made the decision to be true to his own person and believe in Chad's goodness. "I think, we should give him the benefit of a doubt. He should get the chance to prove himself at that party of his."

Chad looked up from his feet with a huge smile on his face, and patted himself mentally on the shoulder for being such a good actor, if he hadn't been, they probably wouldn't have bought it. He noticed, they were still looking a little weird at him, though they had small smiles on their faces, he still felt under the eye of their suspicion. He didn't like that feeling, and he wanted to get out of there fast, so he would go insane over it, but he had to do it in a good guy way, so they would still think, he had changed.

"I have really taken up too much of your time together, so I'm gonna head off now." He said with a wave, using a cheerful voice. He spun around and headed for the door in a quick tempo, as he yelled over his shoulder to be polite; "See ya!"

Then he was out of there, and it only took about 30 seconds, from when he was out of the kitchen to the frontdoor slammed shut. Sharpay let out a sigh of relief, and so did Troy, and then they went back to eating their so called dinner, as they were both wondering the same thing. They were wondering about Chad, why had he gone 180 on them?

"I wonder, what got into him?" Sharpay said, as she took a bite of her delicious banana bread, fluttering with her eyes at how good it was. Troy had gotten well of with that, it was a success to say the least. "I mean, as early as this afternoon he was bad mouthing me, we know that for a fact, cos Lil caught him in action. And now he wants to be friends again? Do you think, he likes our Lileebeth?"

Troy shrugged, because her guess was as good as his, and neither of them would ever know for sure. They let the subject go, and just enjoyed their night together, and then they would have to wait and see, what the party would bring, once they got that far. For now that was all they could do, and it suited them well.

_Ta-daaah :D. Did Nathalie do good? I hope so, because I worked my shrinking butt off on this chapter. I wrote and I wrote, mixing sweat and tears... Okay, I'm lying, I didn't. I've been extremely lazy. I mean, I took a break, and then I began writing again, and then I took on vacation for like a week, and when I got back, my computer was down for almost the same amount of time, and when it finally got back up to working again, I had lost the inspiration I had for it, when I got back from my vacation. Though, when I finally got the inspiration back, it didn't take that many days to write :). So I hope this chapter was good enough for the wait, and I also hope you'll leave me a kick-ass review. Remember, the person who leaves the best review gets the next chapter dedicated to them. So now, let the reviewing begin :). (and I'll begin writing on next chapter of IRBS, when chapter 18 of Twist of Love is done. Anywho, review.)_

_**Laters, AK-tutti**_

_Oh, I have a PS; I have the titles of the final 5 chapters right here; 11. It's Just A Party, Right?, 12. Say It Was Just A Dream, 13. Reinventing Myself, 14. You Seem Fine Without Me, and the final chapter, 15. I Was Right, She Is Special. See, if you can figure out, what's gonna happen in them? If I like any of your guesses, I might use them ;b. Now, review :)_


	12. It's Just A Party, Right?

_Hi everybody :). Thanks for all the kind reviews, I loved them all, though I would prefer more signed reviews, if that could be at all possible?? I have cute puppydog eyes?? Anyway, on with it. I forgot to explain something in last chapter; the whole Sharpay hungry/not hungry thing, some asperger's can't feel, when they're hungry, and some can't feel, when they're full. So yeah, now you know that :). So now before I continue on with chapter, I just wanna let you all know, that my list with most wanted cds is now over two papers long, so if you wanna donate to the cause of making it smaller, feel free to do so. Stessa? Anyone? Thanks :). Okay, so here chapter 11 is now. Oh, oh, oh.. Not yet!! I just wanna say, I love the new HSM3 song, and now I'm ready to continue :)._

_**Disclaimer;**__ I don't own anything in the HSM franchise, but you wanna know, what I would wish, I owned? All of the cds on my lists :D._

_**Dedication; **__Smilingrulz__ has done it again :). You guys gotta give her some competition, or I might just end up dedicating this whole fic to her. But seriously, how much I loved her review can't be described in words, and just... I have to open the review hall of fame now, because her reviews are too good. Now, I don't know, how much more I can praise her to you, but I seriously love her reviews, they're the awesomest. Don't ever stop reviewing, do you hear me? I hope that I can top the rating, she gave me for the last chapter, but with what I have in stores for this chapter, I think it'll go down a little. Don't worry, Catie, I'll make Chad hurt for making your Lilee cry ;b. Oh, and I rate her review a 9.7. Beat that?_

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**11. It's Just A Party, Right?**

Hand in hand, in the park, by the lake, late thursday afternoon, that's where you'd find Troy Bolton and Sharpay Evans. Looked like, Prince Charming had finally found the glass slipper's match, he had found his Cinderella. And Cinderella had found her Prince Charming, the guy who'd go out of his way for her.

There by the lake, Sharpay could honestly say, that nobody mattered to her more than Troy, he was just... he was... he made her sure, that she'd never want another boyfriend, sure she'd found her perfect match, that he was it, the one, sure that this was the guy, she'd end up marrying, her soulmate, and sure that... Did it even matter? He made her sure, that's it! But he also made her doubt; doubt why she had been so hesitant about being with him. He was nothing short of amazing.

Now what Sharpay was feeling for Troy should be timed 10 to match, how Troy was feeling for Sharpay. He was so 'girl with new barbie doll' about her, you know when a little girl would get a new barbie doll, and she wouldn't let anybody besides herself play with it, she wouldn't even let anybody else touch it, she would treasure and love that barbie doll so much... Untill she would get a new one, but in this metaphore Troy would never get a new barbie doll, because he already had the perfect one, and nobody would ever be able to match or top her. It couldn't be explained, how much he really loved Sharpay, there one thing, though, that still bothered him about her; she was keeping something from him.

It was her whole past with Chad. He knew, she had been friends with him back in the days, when her friendship with Chase and Liz were at take one, and that was basically all he knew. Well, he did also know, that something had went completely wrong between them, so that Chad now had this weird grudge against her, but she refused to tell Troy about it, so he could help her. One thing Troy figured was, that it must have been Sharpay, who had messed up their friendship somehow, because if it had been Chad himself, then why on earth would he be so mad at Sharpay? It drove him insane sometimes, that Sharpay was so stubborn, more so than regular people, and she wouldn't tell him a single thing. Then he figured, that she wasn't ready to tell him about it yet, but she would be someday, and then he would listen. He wanted to be there for her at all times, but it still bothered him.

Regardless of that, they still wanted to enjoy their last day of freedom together, before D-Day went into action, and that's what they were doing that afternoon. Tomorrow was that party, Chad had set up after all, and they both still had some trouble trusting it, trusting that he was genuine about the thing, and that it wasn't some sick revenge plot or something, but they couldn't be sure about anything, so that's why they had to go. That way Chad would have one last chance, not only with them but with Liz too, and if blew it, then there would be no chance of anything between any of them, and that was that.

At the point that Chad asked them to be friends again and had told them, he wanted to be friends again, Troy had been the most doubtful and resistant, but now it was actually Sharpay, who was doubting and was being resistant. She really didn't wanna go, it was a party after all! She knew it was on the beach and everything, and she loved the beach, but her and Troy could always go there some other day, and if he was busy, then she could bring Liz or Chase. Maybe they should just back out? Maybe she should tell Troy, how she felt about all of this? He would make it all better, she knew that, so maybe she should?

"I really don't wanna go to this party!" Sharpay said, as they began their third round around the lake, and in some weird way she felt nervous about, but at the same time she was calm. She felt Troy squeeze her hand, and all the nervousness went away, but there was still some strange feeling in her stomach. Could Troy make it go away?

"Then we'll stay away. We don't have to go, if you don't want to." Troy assured her, he didn't want her doing, something she didn't want to. That they didn't have to go should have made her happy, and it didn't; it made her scared, and Troy somehow saw the horror in her eyes. "Hey, hey, hey? What's wrong? Are you scared, what's gonna happen, if you don't go?" They stopped in their tracks, and Troy faced Sharpay, seeing her give a small, careful nod. "It doesn't matter, Pay, I'm gonna be there for you, no matter the outcome of this thing, okay?" He paused to offer Sharpay a smile, which she returned. He had done it, he had made her feel better, like she knew he could. "If you decide, you wanna go, that's cool too, I'm still gonna be there. Protect you, okay?"

"You're really gonna protect me?" Sharpay questioned with a hopeful voice, almost sounding like a little girl afraid of the dark. She was afraid, though it wasn't of the dark, but if she knew she'd have her boyfriend's protection, maybe it wouldn't be all bad. "You promise?"

Troy giggled at his girlfriend, he couldn't help it. He knew she was scared, but that question still made her sound so adorable, so he just had to let it out. She shot him a confused look, because she didn't understand, why he was all of the sudden giggling. Her asperger's sometimes made it harder for her to understand certain situations properly, and maybe that was one of those situations, she didn't quite get.

With a smile, Troy led them both over to a bench, he had spotted on a tiny little grass field, so they would have a view over the lake. They both sat down on the bench, and Sharpay was still eyeing Troy weirdly, trying to figure out, why he had giggled just before. No matter how many times she twisted and turned it in her brain, though, she couldn't figure it out. As her butt hit the bench, she decided to let it go, even though she didn't get it, because she figured, that he didn't giggle at her, the way she was used to people giggling at her. He would never do that, so it was fine.

They looked over the lake, it was the perfect view, and right then and there it could hardly get any better. Troy felt, it would be best to enjoy the view and not say anything, so that's what he did. Why should he, even though he had intended to? Sharpay knew, he was gonna be there for her no matter what, so he didn't need to say anything. What he didn't know was, that by not confirming he'd protect her, he had put doubts in her head, doubts about herself.

Was she good enough for him? This was too good to be true, she'd had that feeling for a while, but she had chosen to ignore it, because that was just her, right? Yeah, it was just her with one difference, the feeling was slowly taking control, and if she didn't say anything, do anything or think of anything else, she would let it get the better of her, and she didn't want that. By everything that's good and pure in her world, she didn't want that, because she didn't wanna lose Troy, and she would if it took full control.

"So are we going to the party, or what?" Sharpay questioned, trying to direct her mind over to the dreaded party, which didn't help at all. Now she was thinking all kinds of conspiracy theories regarding the party, most of them with Troy leaving her, because he discovered, that he really didn't wanna be with a freak after all. "We should go, shouldn't we? I mean, Chad was your best friend, and I bet you wanna be friends with him again, and if you wanna be friends with him again, you'll have to go to this party. I want you to be happy, so we should go."

Troy looked at her with a confused look on his face. "Why is Sharpay rambling?" Troy asked, wearing his trademark smile. She looked away, feeling ashamed, and he reached out his hand and gently grabbed her chin, making her face him again. "Hey, it's okay. You're cute, when you ramble." Sharpay let her hand go from his, which it had still been linked to, wondering what was the matter with herself. "You're nervous, Shar. I get it, I do, but you can't let all of your difficulties hold you away from a possibly big crowd party. Whatever happens, it'll be alright, and you'll do great."

Sharpay got up from the bench so fast, it was like she'd been on fire. She crossed her arms, as she walked towards the lake, thinking about everything. Why did it always have to be about her 'difficulties'? Why couldn't Troy understand, that she sometimes had normal issues as well? Sometimes he treated her like a porcelain doll, like he was afraid she was gonna break or something. And why was she even complaining? A lot of girls would give just about anything to have a guy care for them like that, and here she was bitching in her mind about it. What the hell was wrong her? She was a dumb freak, and it was all because of her stupid handicap!!

She fought back a tear, as she looked at her own reflection in the lake. She wasn't alone, but she felt like she was, seeing as she had promised Troy, that she wouldn't mention herself as a freak anymore, or that he should be with someone else, who didn't have her difficulties, so she couldn't share her feelings with him right now. She didn't wanna lose him, so she couldn't.

As she stood there, she almost wished, she was still friends with Chad, because he would have been able to make her feel better, to make her stop doubting herself. Not that Troy couldn't, he was amazing at that, and he made her feel so good, but there was one thing Chad could, that her boyfriend couldn't. Whenever Chad used to call her Shaggy, all doubts and fears would go away, and Troy didn't know that, because Sharpay was still keeping her past with Chad from him.

Dishonesty could ruin any good relationship, Sharpay knew that, and she wanted to tell him, it wasn't that; she just wasn't ready yet. She didn't feel ready, she didn't know, why that was, but she felt like, she had some things, she needed to figure out about herself first, and then she would tell him. And Troy basically knew anyway, so what was the big deal? Or he had his suspections, and they were as good as any truth, Sharpay could tell him, right?

Troy would just be mad anyways, when he found out, how much she had been keeping from him, by not telling him about her past with Chad. At least that's what Sharpay figured, because she would have been mad about it herself, of course she had a tendency to overreact, but to this she was right on. If he didn't get mad, he'd be so disappointed in her, and that was almost worse than him being mad. So she couldn't tell him, untill way into the future, say at his or her own deathbed.

The lake was calm and still that day, so the reflection of Sharpay, the trees, the blue and green wasn't blurry, like it could have been, had it been a windy day, so she could easily see Troy walking up behind her. She saw, as he lifted his hand up to place as a comfort on her shoulders, but she also saw him, as he stood there with his hands in the air, hesitating, and he let his arms fall to his sides again, and then he just stood behind her.

They both sighed. Troy sighed, because he had really wanted to place those hands on her shoulders, he had really wanted to comfort her, but he remembered Sharpay's conditions from the day, she finally agreed to become something more; he always had to ask 'permission', before he touched her in anyway. You shouldn't ask permission to comfort one, he didn't feel, you should just do it, so that's why he didn't do it. That, and he had a feeling, he shouldn't be the one to break their silence, that it had to be Sharpay, so he kept quiet.

Sharpay sighed, because she had wanted Troy to place those hands on her shoulders, she didn't even care, whether or not he had asked permission, had he done it. She felt so disappointed, she had gotten her hopes up for brief second at the thought of his touch, and then it all faded away, when he had hesitated and let his arms fall. She wanted to turn around and grab his hand, so she could place them on her shoulders. He had a way of making her feel better, she had always known that, so she thought that if Troy had place those hands, all of her bad thoughts and feelings would have washed away like writing in the sand.

None of that happened, so they just stood there in silence, Troy right behind Sharpay, and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. It was comforting in an odd way, but not as comforting as that hand would've been, or the words he said, when he talked like he knew things, like he had done a little earlier. Even if it hadn't comforted her, it would have made her feel better in her heart, and that was at least something.

Minutes past, ducks swam by, small breezes occured, as Troy and Sharpay stood there in their 'I don't wanna be the first to talk' silence. They were both too stubborn to break it, plus they both expected the other to say the first word. At the looks of it, a lot of minutes were yet pass, a lot of ducks would swim by, and they would feel a lot of breezes on their arms.

It had gone that way, hadn't they both heard someone jog by, and they both turned around to see, who it was. Lucky for them, it happened to be Chase, and she looked pretty annoyed, but even if that was the case, she was a good silence breaker. She had always been good in those kind of situations, where others would just keep the silence and act childish, so Chase passing by was definitely a good thing.

Chase had jogged past them, before her vision had passed the message on to her brain, that two of her very good friends were standing by the lake, but when it finally got up there, she stopped in her tracks. She took three big steps back and looked to her side to see, if she had seen right, that it indeed was Troy and Sharpay standing there, and when she saw it was, she got a huge smile on her face.

"Hey, you guys! What are you doing here?" Chase exclaimed, surprised and happy to see them there, as they both lived far from the park, but she wasn't complaining. Troy and Sharpay both plastered smiles on their faces, as they walked up to Chase to greet her. "Not that it isn't great to see you, it's just unexpected."

Troy sighed again, and it sounded like an 'ugh', but the smile never left his face. "There are so many stories. Which one do you want, the official, or?" Troy said, as he glanced at Sharpay to see, where her eyes were, and he wasn't surprised to see them on Chase, even though he had wanted them to be on him, so he would have had a chance to read them to see, which story to really tell. "Do you want us to make one up?"

"I don't care!" Were the next words, that came out of Chase's mouth, and they would have sounded rude coming from any other mouth, but from her's they didn't, since she had that friendly tone to her husky voice. "Whichever is the quickest. If the official story is the quickest, great. If you can make a made up one shorter, then serve me that one."

Sharpay knew Chase, and she wouldn't act like that, unless something really important was up. She would take her time to talk to her friends, but right now she was up to something, and her actions, the slightly annoyed look on her face, her awkward body language, it all made Sharpay very curious. She had to know, especially with the nervous glances Chase gave her own house, which you could see from the park, as it was right next to it.

"Do you maybe wanna tell us, what's up?" Sharpay asked, as a smirk featured her face, and Chase's facial expression changed too. Now you could see, she knew, that Sharpay knew, that she wasn't in the park on only jogging business. "I mean, I know you love jogging, keeping in shape and everything, but it's usually with a more peaceful look on your face. Plus, your dad has very strict rules, and you must be breaking one or two of them with all the nervous glances, you're sending your house. How am I doing so far?"

"You want me to review your Columbo case? You were right on." Chase admitted, glancing yet again at her house, and then over at the trees closest to her house, letting Sharpay silently know, that something was over there. "I'm on a weird date with Zeke, just so you know, and ugh... Big Father is watching me."

"You're on a date with Zeke? But you're all alone?" Troy asked with a confused look on his face, as he looked around for his friend, because he honestly didn't get it. Of course it was girls stuff, and he didn't always get that. "Where have you hidden him? I don't see him, unless he's got an invisibility cloak on? Kinda like in Harry Potter."

"No, of course not." Chase replied, shaking her pretty little head at Troy's silliness, and then she pointed over by the trees right up against her house. "He's right over there. It's the only place in the park, where daddy doesn't have a perfect view, all he's able to see over there are branches with leaves on them, so yeah.. I kinda outsmarted him, I think." She paused and watched, as Sharpay nodded her head, understanding, and Troy just shot her a confused look, not getting it all, so she'd have to explain it a little further. "You know, my dad has all these strict and totally unreasonable rules, right? I'm not allowed to date or even think about dating. Of course, I could have told my dad, that Zeke was just a friend, but my dad wants me to be at home, if I wanna hang out with boys, so he can be watching the whole thing. That would have been cool, because Zeke and I could totally have pretended to be only friends, but then there's the problem of my dad being a racist and not wanting me near black people.." Chase heaved in a big breath of air, before continuing; "So Zeke and I planned a date at the park, because obviously I love being here. Anyway, I told my dad, I was going for jog in the park, my mistake by the way, cos then he'd be watching me, which he is, so I had to plant Zeke over by trees. The deal is, I jog around the lake, spend 5 minutes with Zeke, jog around the lake and so on, that way Big Father won't get suspicious." She flashed them a Chase smile, as she saw they both understood now. "I know it's not the perfect date, but it's a date, and we get to spend time together, and that's really all that matters, right?"

"Yeah, totally. Okay, so... Troy and I are here, because Troy didn't believe, that I could communicate with ducks." Sharpay then said, coming up with a made up story to why, she and Troy were there, because that was Sharpay for ya. She thought, it was so much fun making up funny stories just to see, if people would buy them or crack a smile, which Chase did and stuck her tongue out at her blonde friend. "I wanted to prove to him, that it's true. Anyway, enough about that. Are you going to Chad's 'make up' party tomorrow night?"

The smile disappeared from Chase's face at the mention of Chad's name, she seriously disliked him after everything, he had done. "I was a little reluctant at first to say yes, but yeah I'm going." Chase announced, as she locked her beautiful ice blue eyes with Sharpay's chocolate brown ones, trying to let her know, that it would be okay, even if she wasn't sure herself, but Sharpay really needed it. "Not because I approve of him or anything, far from, but if he wanna make some of his wrongs right, then I'm not gonna stand in his way. Though, if he has something up his sleeves, he's gonna feel the wrath of Chase Feller, and then I don't care, whether or not Zeke is still technically friends with him, because they're on the same basketball team." Chase fell silent, as she watched an insecure Sharpay searching for her boyfriend's hand, and when her hand was safely tucked in his, he squeezed it in a supportive way, making Chase smile once again at their cuteness, and also because Sharpay had been the one seeking out the physical contact, which showed improvement for her. "You two must be going as well, right? I mean, this whole thing is for you."

Sharpay looked back over her shoulder, like there was something interesting on the lake, feeling insecure about this whole subject, so Troy replied for the both of them; "Well, we were actually discussing the possibility of going." Troy said, as he reached out his hand and grasped Sharpay's chin it, making her face the conversation again. "I think we should go, it would be a decent thing to do, and if it turns out to be a scheme, we can just flee the damn thing."

"Okay, when you put it like that, we should go." Sharpay said with a sigh, after having discussed it with Troy and Chase, it didn't seem all that bad. The only person who needed to say good for it was Liz, and they hadn't seen much of her that week, she had been with boy, who was on their lips. "I mean... It's just a party, right?"

They both nodded, and then Chase glanced over by the trees for the gazillionth time, her date was waiting for her over there, and she was just standing with Troy and Sharpay, talking like he wasn't. She hoped, he didn't worry about, what was taking her so long, and that he had patience. She looked at Troy and Sharpay, deciding to end the conversation as soon as possible, they probably didn't have much more left to talk about right then and there.

"Yeah, Lilee seems to think so anyways." Chase concluded, feeling a hint of regret, when the words left her mouth. She hated, that they let her be alone with that horrible guy, with a wonder of what lies he might be filling her with, and Liz always believed in people, so she'd of course be believing in Chad's stupid lies. "I can't believe, she's with Chad all the time. That she really believes, he's this better guy, after everything he's done. She's with him today, isn't she?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I'm not really Lil's babysitter." Sharpay replied, rolling her eyes. Her and Liz hadn't been on the best of terms, ever since Liz started hanging more out with Chad, so if she was with him now, Sharpay really didn't wanna know. If Liz wanted to get her heart broken, it was her business, and as long as she insisted to hang out with the 'fro, Sharpay could care less about the tiny girl. "And if she is, she's just setting herself up to get hurt."

Troy scrunched his face, he really believed Sharpay was giving Liz too hard a time, and the way she held the grudge... let's just say, it wasn't unfamiliar. "Don't you think, that a bit harsh, Pay?" Troy questioned his girlfriend, shooting her glance that clearly said 'be reasonable' or something like that, and then he squeezed her hand to let her know, she shouldn't take it ill up and get too upset, because he would always be on her side. "Liz is the only one, who actually believes in Chad's kindness, and maybe that's what he needs?"

"Okay, I think you should carry on this discussion without me, cos I have a date, so I'm off. See ya." Chase announced with a wave, and then she spun around and jogged away, clearly towards the trees and Zeke, who she was on a date with, leaving Troy and Sharpay to their discussion alone, which hopefully would end well.

**IRBS**

"Knock, knock." Liz said with a soothing voice, as she knocked softly on the door twice to match the times, she had said it. Chad, who had been lying on his bed in his room, reading a book, closed the book in his hand and threw it on his pillow, and then he glanced at the door to see, who was there, and when he got eye contact with Liz, she flashed him a smile. "Hi stranger. Fancy seeing you reading, eh?"

"Hey, baby Lil." Chad cheered, as the girl of his affection entered the room. He rolled off the bed to go give her a proper greeting hug, ignoring the sting of guilt that pounded in his chest. Liz had begun to trust him, really trust him, and they had become so close, that he was now allowed to call her Lil or any other nickname he liked, and they were even hugging and everything, and the thought that he'd have to betray her, he couldn't let himself think about. "You get even more beautiful for every minute, we spend apart." He sweet talked her, while he swung his arms around her, giving her a long caring hug, before finally letting go. "I almost thought, you weren't gonna show."

"Aw, poor little thing. Well, I promised, didn't I?" Liz giggled, finding herself a chair by Chad's desk, while Chad himself sat back down on the bed, focussing all of his attention on the little beauty. "I know, I'm like totally late, but I couldn't really decide between black or orange for tomorrow. It's a huge dilemma, like you can't believe it, I don't know what I'm gonna do, I still haven't decided. What do you think?"

Chad smiled from ear to ear, he couldn't help but find Liz's thing with colours totally adorable, and since he had deep feelings for her, he'd love her in no matter what she wore. "I think, you'd look beyond hot in whatever." Chad said, liking every word as it left his mouth. He was happy, whenever he talked about Liz or Liz related issues, he could always tell the truth, he just couldn't about his real intention with the party, so he'd have to stay off the subject, if it was at all possible. "Just throw something on, and I'll brag to everybody, that you are a friend of mine."

Liz 'aw'ed and tried to hide the blushing feeling, she got in her cheeks. That was the effect, Chad Danforth had on her, and she didn't know why, because attempts to butter her up and sweet talk her always seemed so cheesy, yet they still got to her. He was so nice to her, and she didn't get why, her friends didn't trust him, but the way he treated her and everything, for sure they'd soon change their mind.

She turned her head away from him and focused her attention on some of the things, Chad had on his desk. She wasn't surprised to find hardly anything there, there were a few sheets of paper, a couple of pencils, a pencil sharpener and a picture of Chad, looking about 4 years old, with the arm around a blonde girl about the same age. She smiled at how cute, Chad looked on that picture, and then she grabbed the sharpener in her hand, just so she had something to fidget with, when she'd get all blushed like before.

She spun around in the chair, so her focus was back on Chad. "You're too sweet sometimes, but anyways I'm not hot." Liz said, and then she looked down upon the pencil sharpener in her hand again, twirling it between her fingers for a couple of seconds, before she looked at Chad again. "At least nothing to brag about, y'know."

Chad's jaw dropped. How could that girl not see the kind of effect, she had on people with her looks? "Rubbish! You are! Do you want me to start a poll or something?" Chad exclaimed, and then he jumped up from the bed and hurried over to a pair of pants, that he had lying on the floor and picked something from the pocket of it, which turned out to be his cell, and then he ran back to the bed and threw himself on it. "I could also send a text to everybody I know, asking them 'do you think Liz Kincaid is hot?', and I'm sure I'd only get yes'es back."

"You're exaggerating." Liz said, followed by a cute little giggle, and then she threw the pencil sharpener at Chad, but missed by an inch. "Hey, no fair! You moved, you little cheater!"

Chad gasped, faking offense, as he picked of the pencil sharpener from the bed and threw it after Liz, and on purpose he missed. "How can you accuse me of such a horrible thing?" He whined, ducking from the pencil sharpener, as Liz threw it back at him, missing again. He picked it up again and threw it back. "I would never!"

Liz quickly got tired of their little game, so she placed the pencil sharpener back on the table, and then she decided to get serious, as serious as she could become as Liz Kincaid at least, and talk to Chad about, what she'd had on her mind lately, she just hadn't figured out how to spin it yet.

The thing was, in addition to Chad having been über sweet this past week, she had been feeling things. These said feelings were unfamiliar to everybody's baby Lil, she had never felt anything like them before, but she felt that she might actually like Chad as more than a friend, and she knew he liked her too, so she didn't get the nervousness.

What she wanted to talk to him about was, the possibility of them going together as a date to his make up with Troy and Sharpay party, but at that moment the Lil, she knew she was, had gone away, and she couldn't find the guts to say anything. She wished, he would try again or something, so she wouldn't have to do anything.

Okay, Liz thought to herself, spin it the Lil way. She rose herself from the chair, she had been seated in and made her over to Chad's bed, where he was sitting, watching her every little move, and then she sat down next to him and offered him one of her effortless smiles, that came to her so naturally. Of course, she was Liz, so she always smiled, but still...

Chad looked at the girl next to him, confused at why she had suddenly moved over to him. He wasn't complaining or anything, he loved being close to her, he just found it odd all of the sudden. He stared at her, as if to say 'what's the matter, Lil?', and then she knew, this was it.

"The thing is..." She began, barely audible, her voice shaky, but she soon gained back control of her voice, because this was her friend Chad, she was talking to, right? Nothing to be nervous about, she just had to be her spacey self, no worries. "Well, the thing is, you know how I went with you to mall, and we decided you should wear the awesome white shirt, because white makes your skintone pop? Okay, and you know how they say, white goes with anything?" She paused to heave in her breath, so she could go for next round. "Like, y'know, say you were wearing a white skirt, not that you would or anything, but say you were, and you needed to find an awesome top to go with it, and you like didn't know which one, and then you realize, wait a minute, my skirt is white, I can wear whatever colour top I like, cos it'll all be a match. Y'know?"

"Liz?" Chad questioned with a smirk plastered on his face, having found Liz's rant vere entertaining, but not really understanding it. White goes with anything? Okay, so maybe he was a spastic in the clothes department, but he did know that at least. "What are you rambling on about?"

"You don't know." Liz sighed with defeat, and then she got up from the bed to retreat to the chair by the desk. He didn't get it the Lil way, so she figured, they'd just have to meat at the party and hang out as friends there. "White with _any_ colour. Maybe I should wear white?"

A silence fell upon them. Chad was trying to figure out, what Liz had meant by her rant. White with any colour, he had figured as much as, it had to be some kind of metaphore, right? Liz, usually being a very talkative person, was too ashamed to talk, and what would she even say after that?

After 15 minutes of sitting there in silence, Liz decided that it was enough, she wasn't gonna sit there any longer, if they weren't gonna talk, and they obviously weren't, so she got up and got ready to leave. She was at the door, ready to open it and leave, when she felt someone grab a hold of her arm, and that someone could only be Chad.

"Wait, Lil!" He exclaimed, as she turned around to face him, seeing the desperation in his eyes, cos he hoped he hadn't figured it out too late. "If white goes with anything, it will go with orange or black, or whatever you decide to wear. Unless white is a boring colour for you?"

"Are you asking me out, silly thing?" Liz asked, not bothering to try and hold back the smile, that escaped her lips right after, or the fact that her smile got even wider, when Chad nodded his head instead of saying yes.

She blew him a kiss, before she went out the door and closed it behind her, and he put it in his pocket. He was incredibly happy, that he had gotten to the date state with Liz, and she seemed happy about it as well, but he also felt guilty and almost every bad feeling in the book, because he knew, how disappointed and upset with him Liz would be, once and if she found out, that the party was a scheme and he was still scheming against Sharpay. It wouldn't be able to bear, so hopefully it wouldn't come to that, hopefully he would get through tomorrow night without her finding out anything. Hopefully they'd get out of all of this being a couple, and Troypay would no longer be.

**IRBS**

Sharpay groaned, as she threw herself onto her bed. Today was dooms day, the day of Chad's make up party at the beach, and the very little thought of the fact, that she would have to go to it later today, made her want to bang her head into the wall several times. And it was tempting, because what if she hurt her head severely? She wouldn't be able to go.

She sighed with disgust at herself, and her hand flew up to cover her already closed, regretful eyes, and she shook her head, one single thought going through her head; she couldn't believe herself, that she had actually agreed to this.

It was a little ironic, wasn't it? Troy had been the one to be reluctant at first, and now he was all set to go. Sharpay had been eager to go, mostly because of the mention of the beach, how she loved that sandy shore, and now she was the one, who feared going.

If she absolutely had to go, she thought to herself, she had to look damn good! She removed her hand from her eyes and let it fall to her side, where it belonged. She shut eyes tighter together, trying to think of the perfect outfit, but it was like mission impossible, since she couldn't remember, what she had in her closet - it was simply too huge for that.

She had an idea in her mind, and in Sharpay's brain it looked pretty damn good, so now the question was, did it exist in the closet of Sharpay Evans? She would have to get up from bed to go and check her closet for it, but she didn't feel like it? What if the trip ended in defeat? What if she didn't find, what she was looking for?

Why on earth had she told Troy to just go home, when he had dropped her off after school?, Sharpay wondered to herself, as she roled onto her side, her hands resting underneath her cheek. Why had she told him, that she would meet him at his place, once she was all ready to go to the party, when he could have really helped her in this situation?

While she was at it, why in the world had she been so bitchy towards Liz in the past week, when the petite girl would have known, how to handle this thing in a heartbeat? Sharpay had been a jerk towards her tiny friend, and she knew it, but how else was she supposed to react? She felt as if the world was out to get her, and if she had to be specific, it was Chad Danforth, who was out to get her, and he was now in the friends stealing business. She was afraid of losing Liz, and she feared that Liz was gonna get hurt by Chad, and she couldn't believe, Liz could be so stupid to trust him, after everything she knew, he had done towards one of her best friends.

Great, now she was mad again, but Liz was too naive sometimes, and that was how it was. But maybe Sharpay could try and look past this whole thing with Liz, she should just let Liz be Liz, and hope that Chad wouldn't hurt her. Nobody liked seeing Liz hurt, mostly because she was this naturally cheerful person.

Sharpay glanced at the phone on her nightstand, battling the decision in her head whether to call her up or not. She decided to go for it, so she reached out for the phone and sat up in bed, she looked down on the phone, as she carefully dialled Liz's number (she didn't want one of those 'you got the wrong number' situations, they were so embarrassing), and then she pressed the phone against her ear, trying to patiently wait for Liz to pick up the phone.

One beep. Sharpay looked around her own room, like it was the first time she was in there, and she wanted to check out her surrounding, but she was really just trying to pass time. Two beeps. Sharpay started to bop her head from side to side, while she still looked around her room like a new girl. Three beeps. Sharpay added humming to the process, the song 'Teenage Dirtbag' to be exact, it suddenly popped into her head out of nowhere. Four beeps. Sharpay sighed deeply, rolling her eyes in annoyance. She threw her head back, as she thought 'God, answer that stupid phone already'.

Sharpay was ready to throw the phone out of the window, when she heard the fifth beat, but then she heard the phone being picked up and Liz cheerfully saying; "Elizabeth Kahlen Kincaid, how may I be at your service?"

Sharpay could help but smile at that, she had missed everything about Liz, from her cheery spirit to her silly personality. "Hi Silly Lilee. It's me, Sharpay." She replied, trying to sound as happy as possible, on the inside praying that the girl on the other line wouldn't hang up.

She didn't. "Oh, hi. I didn't expect you to call." Liz then said with same cheerful voice as before, but Sharpay thought she could hear a hint of something, she wasn't too sure of what was. It was probably sadness or something, and after Sharpay's treatment she couldn't be blamed. "What do you want?"

"I need some advice." Sharpay revealed, trying to ignore the fact, that Liz was being kinda rude and acting like, she wanted to get rid of Sharpay as fast as possible. "Please, it's a fashion emergency."

There was a long silence between the two lines, before Liz finally replied; "Yeah, I can't help you. Sorry." But then in the middle of it, Liz realized how she was being, and with a sigh she changed attitude. "Okay, now I really am sorry. But I still can't help you, I'm having one of those darn fashion emergencies myself." She paused, and Sharpay had time to feel bad for a little while, because hope seemed to be out. "It would be kinda like the damned helping the doomed."

"Oh, well... If you can't help me, you can't help me, y'know." Sharpay concluded, trying to hide the hurt in her voice. She had really thought... well, whatever, it didn't even matter now. "That was basically all I wanted, Lils, so I guess I gotta go then."

Sharpay was about to hang up her phone, when she heard Liz begin some sort of rant on the other line; "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold up! We're talking fashion emergencies here, the biggest crisis in the world, we should be able to help each other in some sort of way." Sharpay lit up, as the was hope still, and Liz carried on in a weird sum up kinda way. "Being damned is better than being doomed." There was a pause, and then Liz added an insecure; "Right?"

"Right." Sharpay giggled, luckily Liz wasn't one to hold grudges (like certain other people), which made them able to talk like that, like nothing had happened, like Sharpay hadn't been the biggest jerk in the history of jerks. "I'm surprised, though, that you're having a fashion emergency. I mean, you always seem to be on top of colour combinations and everything. So what's up?"

"I have a date." Liz revealed, sounding both happy and hesitant, like she had expected Sharpay to blow up over the great news of her date - finally Liz had someone too, and she wouldn't be a fifth wheel anymore, not that she had ever minded. "I'm freaking out, because I wanna look my best, and I'm doubting every decsion I make. It was so much easier, before I got that date."

"Who is it with?" Sharpay asked, curiously. Had Liz been there, she would have poked her in the side to try and get it out of her. "Is it someone is know? It's not that guy, you were bothering about wearing red in science, is it? Because I think all hope is out for him, y'know."

"EUW, NO!" Liz exclaimed, sounding shocked that Sharpay would even think so, and Sharpay couldn't hold back a chuckle, when she heard a bump on the other line, imagining Liz had falled off of her chair or something, and landed butt first on the floor. "He is whiter than a sheet, Pay, and those Steve Urgle glasses he is wearing... it would be dayjob just trying to make him look sort of presentable. No way, nuh uh."

"Aw, come on, Lileebeth." Sharpay teased, her main goal was trying to get her friend's voice all high pitched and shrieky, and to see how long it would be, before Liz discovered, what she was doing. "He could tan."

"Stop it!" Liz whined into the phone, even discussing the nerd, missing his name, made her shiver with disgust. "Even if he did tan, there is still those glasses, and his greasy hair. Next time I meet him, I'm gonna propose, that he take a shower." Liz paused, when the thought struck her, what if he refused? She desperately searched her mind for a way to make him shower no matter what. "Oh, and if he refuses, then we must have a soapwater balloon fight. Everybody against ghostie."

"Everybody against ghostie." Sharpay laughed so hard, she fell off of her bed and landed on her floor. She rubbed herself, where it hurt, still laughing. She couldn't help it, she had a laughing fit. She tried to get up from the floor, but she was laughing too hard, so she gave up and kept lying there. When laughter had finally stopped, she wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye and sat up. "But seriously, who is it?"

Liz fell silent again, so Sharpay suspected, it was someone she knew. It was a long silence, and Sharpay had time to get up from the floor, and now she realized her butt pains, she had laughed too much before, but they weren't as bad, as they could have been. Sharpay walked over to the tv corner of her room, and she sat down on her floor pillow. She turned on her tv and put it on mute, and then zapped through the channels, finally settling on a program with cartoons.

Liz had been silent for so long, that Sharpay had almost forgotten, she was on the phone with her, even though she actually had phone pressed against her ear, she had been so wrapped up in the mute tv, which was quite funny, despite being soundless.

"It's Chad." Liz finally revealed, and Sharpay could now understand, why she hadn't been so excited to tell her, especially since it felt like a ton of bricks had just fallen on top of her. They only knew one Chad, Sharpay knew that, but she had thought it was only friendship, she hadn't thought they'd get that far on such short amount of time. "I know, what you must be thinking, Shar, but I really like him. I'm just as surprised about it as you, I never wanted to like him, but I do. I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't apologize for liking someone, Lil, even if your friends have issues with him." Sharpay said, and it was the truth. Sure, Sharpay had problems with Chad, but if Liz liked him and wanted to date him, she could, and Sharpay wouldn't mind, as long as the guy with the 'fro would treat her right and not hurt her, otherwise Sharpay would have a real problem. "If you trust him, and you're sure he won't hurt you, you have every right to date him. All I want is to see you happy - er."

Sharpay heard Liz make an aw sound on the other line, which made her smile. Their problems were past tense now. "Thank you so much, Shar. It means so much to me, that you're not totally against it." Liz said, and her voice, if it was even possible, sounded even more cheerful than before, and then she made an 'in the moment' decision. "Do you want me to come over, and we can go to the mall and cure the world of two fashion emergencies?"

"Yeah, I'd love that."

**IRBS**

Troy sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the livingroom of his house, waiting for Sharpay to arrive any minute. It was the same situation as on family dinner night, where Sharpay had been over, and it was also a family dinner night that night. Troy's entire family was there, except for his cousins who never seemed to be there, and neither was grandpa Brennan, and at least now Troy knew why.

They were all doing the same, as they did the last time, though this time John was baking chicken pie or something, not that it mattered to Troy, as he wouldn't be eating home that night. This time grandma Bolton was complaining about the fact, that John was putting too little cream in it or something like that. Troy had neglected to tell them all, that he was waiting for Sharpay to come over, because they would go out of their mind then.

Troy uncomfortably shifted in the chair, he was nervous, that Sharpay might arrive, while his dad was in the hallway, hanging up each family member's coat properly. That way he would be the one to answer the door, and he would probably say something nasty to Sharpay, ruining the night before it even began.

Of course, he was that unlucky. He heard a knock on the door, and he closed his eyes, preparing himself for the worst, and then he heard his father's rude and insensitive voice. "Wow, Sharpay, you almost look half decent."

"And you almost look like your parents didn't have an accident." Was Sharpay's cheeky reply, that made Troy jump up from the chair and run out into the hallway, before a scene was caused, because once Sharpay got started with her best insults, it was hard to stop her.

He got in at the right time, he sensed. His dad was fuming, his arms crossed, and Sharpay was shooting him her best death glare. If looks could kill, his dad would have been dad by then.

"Uhm, dad? Maybe you should go into the livingroom and be a good host?" Troy suggested with a firm voice, as he made a funny hand wave in the livingroom's direction to point out, that he actually wanted him to get out of the hallway. Troy got out of his dad's way, while he left the room with a bitter face. Troy turned to Sharpay and placed a comforting arm on her shoulder, looking her deep into the eyes. "You okay?"

Sharpay nodded appreciatively, offering him a smile, and he let his arm fall down to his side again. They stood there in a comfortable silence, just looking each other in the eyes, and that's when Troy finally took in her appearance for the night.

She was wearing stropless, black dress, which went down to a few inches above her knees, and it had a tiny yellow bow on the back. She was wearing yellow leggings or pantyhoses, Troy didn't really know the difference between those two, but they were yellow, and she was also wearing a pair of black heels. She had two big, black bangles around her right wrist, and she had short silver chain with a cross around her neck, giving her outfit a little bit of innocence. She wore light make-up, since she had never actually been a fan of it, and her hair was done in soft curls and hung loose.

Troy stood there and watched her with wide eyes, his jaw down on the floor. Sharpay got a concerned look on her face, because he just stood there, not saying anything. She looked down upon herself, worried that something was wrong, with her outfit or without herself. Did she look especially freaky that night?

Liz had promised her and assured her, that it was fan-fashion-tastic outfit, so why was he glancing at her like that? Was it horrible? Liz had said, she'd wear something like that herself, if she ever had the chance, and Liz always knew, what she was talking about.

Sharpay subconsciously reached up her hand to scratch the back of her head, but then she remembered, she had styled hair tonight, and it would be an unwise decision to ruin it like that. The hand fell back to its old position, and she nervously shifted her weight from one leg to the other, hoping Troy would soon open his mouth and speak.

"You look..." Troy trailed off, searching for the right word to use, but it was impossible, for she looked amazing beyond words in his opinion. "You... I don't know... just, wow."

Sharpay let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God!" She exclaimed, and offered Troy a weak smile, it was tiring psyching herself out so much, but her self-esteem was just so low, because she never actually delt with y'know. "I thought... nevermind, you don't wanna hear about it." Troy shot a suspicious look, like he didn't believe her, and he was kinda right. He wanted to listen to her, she knew that, but she also knew, that what she wanted to say, could be the end of them. "It's not important, trust me."

"Okay, if you say so." Troy said, deciding to let the subject slide, and get on with the agenda. They had party to attend. "Are you ready to go?"

Sharpay nodded, and Troy went past her to open the door for them. He held it, and Sharpay walked outside, he followed her example, shutting the door behind them, and then they went over to his car, got in and drove off to Chad's party.

**IRBS**

Watching the bonfire by the beach, sitting on a stump nearby, Gabriella wondered why on earth, she had gone to Chad's party? She had no real answer, except she felt drawn to it, like she had to be there. She felt something coming on, that she shouldn't miss for anything in the world.

For a summer night, it was pretty cool outside, and Gabriella regretted not having brought her jacket. She sipped the beverage, she had in her hand, hoping it would varm her up a little bit. She wasn't close enough to the fire to get any warmth from that, so she'd have to do with what she got.

She had only been there for 15 minutes, and she could already smell the Chad scheme in the air. It was so obvious, what Chad was trying to do with this event, it clearly wasn't a friendly gesture at all, like he claimed it to be. Gabriella had been best friends with Sharpay once, from the age of 8 to 12, so she knew a little something about her, even though it was such a long time ago, and what she knew was, that if Chad really and truly wanted to be on Sharpay's good side again, this was completely the wrong way to go.

First of all, there were way too many people for Sharpay's liking. When Gabriella was friends with her, she could never get her to go with her to anywhere, where there might be more than 10 people, and there were around 100 here. A big Sharpay no-no, and they were all people, she didn't know or had ever talked to, and they were all 15 - 17 year old's, and Sharpay hated people that age. She found them mean, and they had always teased her. Also the way they drank their brains out on every little occasion, was something that was disliked by the both of them.

Gabriella watched 6 guys around her age, acting like total fools by the fire. They were dancing around the fire, monkey style, and they all had some kind of alcoholic drink in their hands, plus they were howling like maniacs. They were totally acting out, doing wrestling tricks on each other, jumping around, and Gabriella had the feeling, that Chad knew a scenery like that would make Sharpay uncomfortable.

He had really gone out of his way to try and get Sharpay out of Troy's life, it was so obvious to Gabriella. The one thing she didn't get was, how come he wasn't there to witness it? Okay, so Gabriella wasn't a party person, but she was pretty sure, the 'host' had to be present?

Did Chad even know all of these people, or had he searched through the yellow pages to get the turn out? Gabriella had to wonder about it, because out of everybody there she only knew four people. She recognised a lot of people, yes but she only knew four. Ryan was there, of course he had to be there for this to seem convincing to naked eye, and he was there with Taylor, his girlfriend. Zeke and Chase had arrived 5 minutes ago, Zeke had on a stone face, and Chase had on a sour face. They could've had a fight?

Gabriella heard some howling again, and assuming it was the guys by the fire, she rolled her eyes, annoyed. Then she heard some 'whoa' sounds, some 'nice one, bro's and some 'Chad, my man'. She looked around the beach, without getting up from her stump seat, and she saw Chad arriving at his party, and she was surprised to see him with Liz under his arm, especially after what went on at her lawn a week ago. Had Chad fooled Liz as well?

Gabriella closed her eyes and threw her head back, as she thought about, what someone who'd gotten back on the good side, the right side, would do? Because she surely couldn't sit there and watch this go down, that would be wrong.

She let her cup fall out of her hand, and it landed in the sand. She knew, it was pollution, but right now she needed to this, and she would get to it later. She used her hands to help her stand up from the ground, and then she spun around in the sand, heading towards Chad and Liz's direction. He was gonna get a piece of her mind, even though she wasn't very good at that.

"Well, well, well... Look who came to my party after all!" Chad exclaimed, wearing his dirtbag smirk, which Liz didn't seem to notice, as Gabriella approached, looking anything but happy, though as soon as she got to them, she brought on a smile.

"Hi Liz." Gabriella greeted the smaller girl with a genuine, friendly smile, which Liz of course returned. "Chad!" Gabriella acknowledged his presence with a mocking smile, and soon after her face made an easy transition into ice cold. "I know, what you're up to."

"Thank you for that piece of information, Gabriella." Chad replied, sarcastically, offering Gabriella a mocking smile, just like she had given him one before. Liz, unable to read off almost any kind of situaton, didn't notice the hostile tension between her date and the latina. "But I think everybody knows, what I'm up to. I mean, they're all here. It's a party."

"You know perfectly well, that's not what I meant." Gabriella said, not once changing her eyes cold face, and Chad thought, it was almost Sharpay worthy. Gabriella glanced at Liz, who stood there smiling still, and then she looked back at Chad, wondering how she could just stand there, not knowing what was going on, but she didn't let it show. "I'm not an idiot, y'know. Anyone who knows, or has known Sharpay can easily see, that this party is not for her, and you're out to get her."

"He is not out to get her." Liz objected, finally joining in on the conversation, and she thought Gabriella's accusations on Chad were totally outrageous. Where did she get it from? Cos Liz knew, Chad's intentions were honorable. "He feels bad, and he really wants to make things right again."

"He has an odd way of showing it, doesn't he? Look around, Liz?" Gabriella said, as she swung out her arm at the whole party scenery, so Liz could really have a look, so she could really see, that none of this had Sharpay written on it. "Does any of this seem like something Sharpay would want at all? Be honest?"

Liz glanced around the party, noticing one baboon acting teenager after the other, realising none of this seemed very Sharpay like. She let out a deep sigh, she was torn. She trusted Chad with almost everything she had in her tiny body, but Gabriella was right, this didn't seem like the type of party, Sharpay would want. And now that she actually thought about it, Sharpay didn't like parties at all, the only thing she would like here was the beach. Liz didn't know, what to do.

She looked Chad deep into the eyes, and he couldn't tell whether or not, it was with disappointment. "This better not be true." She then said, her voice was lifeless, and Chad didn't like it. Less did he like it, when she yanked her arm away from his. "I'm going to get something to drink."

Gabriella watched, as Liz gave her small nod, which she didn't know what to read into, and walked off. Gabriella hated, that she was the first to knock the life out of Liz's eyes, so naturally smiley, but it had to be done, now the naive girl might realize, what a jackass her date was.

"I swear to God, Gabriella, that if you've ruined me and Lil, I'll..." Chad began, anger in both his voice and eyes. He was furious, Gabriella didn't doubt that one second, and his voice was sort of threatening towards her, but she still wasn't afraid to cut him off..

"So what? It's okay for you to ruin Troy and Sharpay, but it's not okay for me to ruin you and Liz?" Gabriella yelled, the disbelief clear in her eyes. Did he seriously say that just now? She didn't know, what booth to place him in now, because that was beyond the stupidest thing, he'd ever done. That was for sure. "Do you have any idea, how you sound? How you're coming off right now? Let me tell you, you're either hypocritical, double-standard, or you're simply just a very, very bad person. You take your pick, cos I'll be good with either one, though the last one is my favorite." 

They got deeper into the argument, and neither of them wanted to give it a rest, so when Liz had gotten herself a drink, and she looked back at them, she decided, she didn't wanna deal with their crap at that point, and she went to find somebody else she knew, that she could talk to. Of course she settled on Chase, who else would it be?

Liz did notice, how Zeke and Chase were leaning close towards each other, talking quietly amongst themselves, one looking more sourfaced than the other, but she didn't read too much into it, she barely even gave it much thought. She was Liz Kincaid, so why would she? A nuclear bomb could drop, and she would still beam like nothing had happened (though she'd probably be dead).

"Hey Chase, hey Zeke." She greeted them with a big smile, and the couple quickly jumped away from each other, which Liz found very odd, but chose to let go. "So, do you like the party? It's pretty impressive stuff, huh?" Zeke and Chase glanced at each other, having a silent conversation with the eyes, they had probably discussed the party before. "Who knew? I mean, you all thought Chad was like this evil guy, who wouldn't follow through, but he really did."

"Lil, sweetie, look around." Chase said, thoroughly pronouncing every word in that sentence, her pleading eyes bore into Liz's. Zeke, unnoticed by Liz, shifted a little away from Chase. "This is a party, yes. Chad said he'd throw one, yes. But he said he'd throw it for Troy and Sharpay. Now, Troy might be able to behave himself at a party like this, but Sharpay won't know how to. You know how she'll end up acting, and this will all end in disaster."

Liz rolled her eyes, as she once again had to give the party a lookover. Sure, it didn't seem very Sharpay-ish, but she could surprise them all and be totally onboard with it, plus she just couldn't believe, that Chad had gone through so much trouble to hurt Sharpay. He wasn't capable of that, Liz knew it, he was a good person, and she trusted him. He couldn't have done, what they all suspected him to.

"I get your point, Chase, but aren't you a big fan of that giving people 'the benefit of a doubt' thingy? So whatever happened to that?" Liz questioned, using airquotes at benefit of a doubt, where it wasn't needed. Liz folded her arms in the 'I'm mad' kind of way, as she tried to send a hard glare at Chase direction.

Chase was completely taken aback at the fact, that the first time Liz was standing up to her, she stood up for Chad Danforth. Liz was just as surprised as Chase, but she tried not to let it show. She stayed in the same pose, acting like she was certain with what, she was doing.

"I agree with Liz. You are so keen on making Chad the bad guy, cooking up all of these theories about him, but couldn't it just be, that he's actually trying?" Zeke asked his girlfriend, while she looked at him, like he had slapped her in the face. He felt bad, he really did, but Chase was too set on his friend being this horrible guy, and all Zeke wanted to do was wait this out. You couldn't very well sell the milk, before the cow has actually been milked. "I'm sorry, honey, but that's the way I see it. I know, Sharpay is your friend, and you're looking out for her best interest, but Chad is my friend, and I trust that he'd never sink to a level like that."

"I can see that. As much as you probably like Sharpay, Chad has been your friend for longer, and even though he's been kind of a jerk in the past, which you have admitted he has, you should stay loyal to him." Chase finally accepted her boyfriend's opinion, even if it wasn't with a good mind. Zeke moved closer to Chase and gave her sweet kiss on the lips, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling, but that smile soon faded, when she turned to look at Liz, who got so scared she let her arms fall down. "As for you, I can't say the same. What the hell are you doing, Lilee? You should be loyal towards Sharpay, not Chad. I don't even understand, how you can be friends with him, you completely look through fingers with his past history with our friend."

"I'm gonna go find us something to drink." Zeke informed them, and Chase nodded as if to say okay, and then Zeke kissed her and wandered off to find something to drink, like he said. It was very wise of him, cos the tension in the air was close to unbearable.

They were silent for a long while, just wrapped up staring at each other, not even noticing the chaos of the party around them. When a minute had past, Chase finally spoke; "Are you even gonna say something?"

Liz kept looking at her friend, contemplating whether or not she should say the thing on her mind, as she blinked the tears away, and then she decided to say it, or rather scream it at the top of her lungs; "I hate you, Chase Annabelle Feller. Go to hell."

Chase's mouth dropped, she was stunned. Never had Liz said something like that to her, she had never even said a harsh sentence to her before, so it was a speechless Chase, who watched her best friend run away.

Zeke came back with two drinks in his hands, and he offered one of them to Chase, who gave him a sad smile in return. "What's happened to you?" Zeke asked with concern, as he put his free arm around his girlfriend and kissed her forehead. He stroked her upper arm with the arm he had around her, never removing his eyes from her. She looked really sad. "Did Liz say something?"

Chase nodded, but said nothing. She was in a weird trance from the shock of the fight, she'd had with Liz. Never in her life did she believe, Liz would ever say something like that to her. Chad was clearly bad influence on her, though she wouldn't say it out loud to Zeke.

"I've just been burned." Chase finally spoke, her voice hoarse and barely audible to Zeke, hadn't he stood right next to her, all he would have heard were hoarse mumbles. "Liz told me, she hated me, that I should go to hell." Zeke smiled sympathetically at his girlfriend, it was all he could do right now. He removed his arm from her shoulder, and linked it with her hand instead, squeezing in tight to let her know, that he was there for her. "I just wanna go home, is that okay?"

Zeke nodded, of course it was okay. Had he been through something like that with his best friend, he wouldn't want to party either, though would never go through something that dramatic with his friends, he was a guy after all. He took Chase's drink from her, and threw them both on the ground, his hand still linked to hers.

Hand in hand, Zeke and Chase escaped the party, just as Troy and Sharpay arrived. They totally missed each other, as Troy helped Sharpay out of his car, Zeke helped Chase into his and drove off.

"We're here." Troy announced, trying to sound all cheerful, as he locked the door to his car. He hoped his enthusiam would rub off on Sharpay, that she would look a little lighter on this party, but it wasn't happening.

"Yeah, I'm not blind, Troy." She simply replied, looking around the party. She became more and more horrified, as she scanned the party, and she immediately knew, she wouldn't be able to handle it. "I think we should go home, this party isn't such a good idea."

"What are you talking about, Shar? We just got here!" Troy tried to reason with his girlfriend, he did a funny little dance with a big grin on his face, as if to say 'come on, parties are fun', but Sharpay had her mind said against this party already, and she wasn't gonna change it. "It's gonna be fun?"

"Fun for who?" Sharpay questioned, raising her eyebrow in a sceptic manner, crossing her arms in a stubborn way. She looked away to roll her eyes in an annoyed way, and that's when she noticed Chad and Gabriella in a heated discussion, which she immediately missunderstood. "Haha, that over there so much fun. Hilarious, I almost can't stop laughing." Troy looked at her confused, and she pointed Chad and Gabriella's direction. "I told you this was a stupid scheme."

Troy stared at Chad and Gabriella for a good while, and then he turned to look at Sharpay again. "You have serious attitude problems, Pay." He said with a monotone voice, like he couldn't be bothered, but then he became his usual self again, and decided to deal with the situation. "Plus, you don't even know, that's what they are doing. I mean, they don't exactly look all buddy-buddy 'we're gonna get Sharpay'-ish. They look really mad at each other."

"And where's Lil? She told me, she had a date with Chad." Sharpay said, like she hadn't even listened to a word, that Troy had said, and she looked around the party again, and couldn't spot Liz at the moment. "If he has done something to her, I swear to God. And come on, this has Chad written all over it."

"Why do you insist, that he has bad intentions with this party?" Troy wondered out loud, because he didn't get it. To him it seemed like, Chad had really made an effort, but Sharpay was so set on him to be this bad guy, who was only out to make her life miserable. "It seems like, he has really tried, Shar. And so what, if this is a scheme? We shouldn't care, there is nothing they can do to us. We're stronger than that."

"Are we? I mean, it's clear to me, what they're trying to tell us with this party." Sharpay began, looking down on her feet, because of this really hurt her. Troy could hear on her tone, where she was going with this, and he didn't wanna hear it.

"Sharpay, don't! Think it through, before you carry on." Troy said to her, almost begging her. He knew, that if she finished her rant... well, she knew it too, so hopefully she wouldn't continue. She looked up at him with no emotion in her eyes, and he couldn't read, what she was gonna do.

"Look around, Troy. Look at all of these people, the way they're acting." Sharpay had raised her voice, and she swung out her arm at the party, as she looked at Troy in a challenging 'tell me I'm wrong' kind of way. So far she hadn't said anything, they would both regret. "What does it tell you? That I'm not normal, that I'm a freak, and I don't belong here." Troy tried to hide the tears in his eyes, he knew what was gonna happen next, and he almost couldn't take the thought. "That's probably, what Chad and Gabriella are discussing too. They probably set this up, because you should realize, you should be with someone normal, like Gabriella."

"That's it, Sharpay. I told you, what would happen, if you ever said that again. I won't stand for it anymore." Troy yelled, surprising them both, that he wasn't able to control his voice, but he was so mad. He was sad too, so he hoped his voice wouldn't crack, this was hard enough. "I'm sorry, but I can't keep doing this anymore. I am my own person, and I like that person, but with your handicap and your lack of confidence, I'm finding it hard to be that person. It's too hard trying to keep up your spirit and boosting your confidence, reassuring you are good enough, while trying to stay the person I am."

"What are you saying?" Sharpay wanted to know, and then the things she had said caught up with her, and she had a feeling, she knew what he was saying after all, but she hoped it wasn't true.

"I'm saying, that I love you, but I can't be with you anymore." Troy was still yelling, which was needed to get some of his frustrations out. He did love, but it was all too much, especially since she couldn't accept the way things were, and try to make her peace with it. She needed to grow up.

"Please don't. Is there no way, I can change your mind?" Sharpay cried, she grabbed his arms, trying to make him stay, but he brushed her hands away. She didn't know how to handle it, because it always been Troy in her position in these kind of situations, and she didn't like this now. "Please don't leave me, I don't know, what I'll do without you."

"You should have thought about that before. I told you, if you said those things again, we'd be history. You made your bed, Shar." Troy said rather harshly, and then he turned around, heading back towards his car to drive home, without Sharpay.

"Please, Troy? Is there any way, that we can still be together?" Sharpay yelled after him, hoping that if she fought a little, he'd change his mind, but the chances were minimum. The tears were now rolling freely down her cheeks, and she had this feeling inside her body, that she just wanted to grab her hair and scream.

Troy stopped in his tracks, he closed his eyes, and with a sigh he turned around to face Sharpay one last time. He hated this whole situation, but he had to say it, she had asked for it; "Not now, Sharpay. Someday, if you can finally admit to me, that you're special, then maybe. If you can accept your handicap, someday, deal with it and make it a part of you, then maybe. If you stop talking down on yourself, and stop thinking you only deserve bad things in your life, then maybe. But not now, because it feels like, I have to do all of these things for you. Goodbye, Pay."

He turned around again and walked the rest of the way to his car, he unlocked it and opened the door, he glanced one last time at Sharpay, and then he got in and drove off. Sharpay fell to the ground on her knees and cried hysterically, and for once she didn't care.

Gabriella, though in an argument with Chad, had heard the yells and watched the whole thing, the Troypay break-up. So had Chad, who now had the most disgusting expression on his face, and Gabriella felt like slapping him. This was exactly what, he had in mind.

"You must be happy." Gabriella concluded, as she turned her back to the crying Sharpay, and she looked at Chad with pure contempt. She wanted to push him, but she didn't wanna cause a scene, though she would be pleased to heard his reputation by him once again being pushed by a girl. "This was exactly, what you had in mind, wasn't it? Huh, Chad?"

"You know it was, Gabs. Finally, I helped Troy realize, he shouldn't be with that freaky ice bitch." Chad said, sounding disgustingly proud of himself, causing Gabriella to utter an 'ugh' sound, but she chose not to deal with it. Someone else would.

She rolled her eyes at Chad, and then she spun around, and walked away from him with an angry look on her face. She should probably have gone to comfort the hysteric Sharpay, but she chose to walk as far as she could away from Chad, so she went to see how Troy was doing now.

"For you information, you fucking liar, he was happy with that freaky ice bitch." Chad heard a voice yell behind him, a voice which he recognised, and knew it meant trouble, but he turned around to face it anyways, and there stood the object of his affection, Liz Kincaid. "Look what you've done. Oh, but you've already seen that, because it was your plan all along. What, was it your plan to hurt me too? Or was that just a nice side price?"

"No, I never wanted to hurt you, Lil. I really like you." Chad tried, stepping one step closer to Liz, but by the look she sent him, he immediately stepped back. He should've figured this, Liz was always there, when she shouldn't be, overhearing things she shouldn't hear.

"Save it for someone, who gives a crap, cos I don't believe you one sec." Liz screamed, slowly becoming hysterical, though in another way than Sharpay. She was becoming hysterically angry at Chad, and she just wanted to yell at him. "I believed in you, so much that I stood up for you, when everybody else told me, you were up to no good. I should have believed them." She paused to catch her breath, and Chad was about to say something, but then she sent him a glare, that made him not dare. "And to think I liked you, when you go and do something like that to one of my best friends. If I never see your face again, it'll be too soon."

"Liz, wait! Let me explain it." Chad yelled after Liz, when she had begun walking away. He was desperate to make her listen to him, but when Liz finally got angry, she got really angry. What would he even tell her? Face it, he had blown it.

"Explain it to your mom, the only person who'd care." Liz yelled back at him, without turning around, without facing him, because if she did, she didn't know, what she'd do. To think that she was that dumb, she just hoped the people, she cared about could forgive her.

When she had gotten in a safe distance away from Chad, she finally calmed down, and then she ran the rest of the way over to her crying friend. When she got to Sharpay, she got down on her knees and wrapped her arms around Sharpay, and then she let the girl cry out on her shoulder.

Liz was gonna let Sharpay cry out on that shoulder, even if it took all night, all month even, because she owed that to her, after what she'd done that week. When that month had passed, she would drive Sharpay home, and talk with her all through night.

She was gonna do all those things, because she was a great friend, and because Troypay was a seperate thing now.

_Finally. I hoped you all like this, because something tragic happened, that made it take so long to write. My computer crashed, so now I can only use my mom's and my littlebrother's, which only for a few hours a day, but that's not the point. The point is, that because my computer crashed, I lost my inspiration, and I just didn't wanna write, because I had lost a lot of the chapter, but then I got my inspiration back and tried to write, as fast as I could. So I'm extremely sorry for the long delay, which is why I haven't read it through yet, but I will and correct the mistakes, untill then bear with me. Another tragic thing has happened, I've lost my cds list, and I can't remember those on it, plus that new HSM3 song I mentioned is now pretty old. What are you gonna do? Review! (wow, a rhyme)_

_**Laters, AK-tutti**_


	13. Say It Was Just A Dream

_Hey :), I'm back! Do you love it as much as I do? Well, you should. I didn't receive many reviews for the last chapter, but that's my own stupid fault. I shouldn't have given up on last chapter and waited two months to update, people lose interest if they have to wait that long, but I'll make you a promise, I'll try my best to keep; never again! And I've got some news, great news in my opinion.. How many of you like my original characters, Chase Feller and Liz Kincaid? It's good news for you too then! I'm preparing a spin-off to IRBS starring them, it will also feature original characters from time to time, and I'm planning on making it kind of like a texted sitcom. It will be in the future, Chase and Liz are adults and living together, and each episode finds them in situations, they really shouldn't be in. What do you think? Please tell me in a review, when you've read this, and now on with things;_

_**Disclaimer;** I have no relation to the HSM movies in any significant way, you'll have to discuss this with disney, my friend._

_**Dedication;** I know the past many times, it's been smilingrulz, and this chapter's dedication was a close run, but this time you all were beaten out by; **xForeverTroypay**! Do you love it as much as I do? OMG, I hope that doesn't turn into a new habit of mine, anyways... It was an awesome review, and I loved it, and I also love the fact, that I made her write her longest review, that means I did good, right? So yeah, you all know the drill, this chapter is dedicated to **xForeverTroypay** for her awesome review, which almost drove me to tears, not because I've been really emotional lately, but because it was that good, so here you are, reviewer dearest :)._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**12. Say It Was Just A Dream.**

Monday had always been Sharpay's least favorite day of the weak for a number of different reasons. It meant there were many days ahead, before she would finally be off school again for the weekend, it meant attending school for that matter, it meant looking forward to the regular students' teasing, it meant a new start of feeling all these uncomfortable feelings of walking down the halls of East High. The list could go on and on, but this time it meant there was a posibility of maybe running into Troy, whom she had spent her weekend crying over, while hoping it was all just a dream, a horrible dream.

Sharpay felt weird and sentimental, when she woke up that monday morning. It seemed surreal to her, that she wouldn't be riding with Troy to school, that he wouldn't come over to pick her up anymore. No more personals of the day, and she had even prepared a good one, she was gonna tell him, she was scared of staircases, and he would laugh while driving, but that wasn't ever gonna happen again.

She would have to walk to school, and she dreaded it. All these unnecessary thoughts running through her head; what if she ran into some Chad infected Wildcats from school, who'd go out of their way to make her miserable? What if she ran into someone, who'd be able to tell, that she wasn't like everybody else and tease her for it? What if, what if, what if?

Nothing wrong with Mr. Paperblock, though, he was still the awesomest car ever, but it was Ryan's car, and he had spent the weekend at Taylor's house, so had Mr. Paperblock. Even if Ryan hadn't brought Mr. Paperblock with him, she would still have to walk, because she wasn't able to drive, and never would she be able to. She just didn't like all the things going on at the same time on the road, it would make her lose it.

Sharpay had thought all weekend over, what Troy had said. It had hurt so much, still did everytime she thought about it. She had talked the whole break-up scene over and over again with Liz, but the petite little girl hadn't been able to help, as much as she wanted to be, Liz just wasn't good in those types of situations. All she could do was be there as support for Sharpay, and that's what she did, and it helped a lot. It was probably why, Sharpay hadn't thrown herself off the balcony yet.

Chase had been a goner all weekend, Sharpay hadn't seen her or heard from her, which was a pity, because both she and Liz believed, Chase could have helped a lot. She was probably off in some lovey-dovey dimension with Zeke, and she deserved to be, no doubt about it, but Sharpay loathed the happiness Chase and Zeke shared together, because she had just lost Troy. She was a horrible person to think like that, but she couldn't help it.

Sharpay ate her breakfast alone that morning, reading the back of the cerealbox, while texting back Liz, who'd asked how she was feeling now. Sharpay replied 'bad', and shoved a spoonful of cereal and milk into her mouth, as she pressed the send button. She wondered, if she had texted the right word back, it could have been to other words as well, both rhyming with the word bad. Sad, mad.

Putting on clothes that morning had only taken a minute, because she felt so down, she just didn't care. She had thrown on some summerdress, that she thought was a pale yellow, but she didn't really remember, she couldn't even remember if the shoes matched the outfit. She hadn't used any time in the bathroom either, she had just brushed her teeth and wiped the sleepdust off her eyes, and then she had left her room to go downstairs to eat her breakfast, which she was doing now, leaving her hair in that messy, high ponytail she had slept with.

She wanted to go to Troy's house, hammer on the door, and then yell, scream and shout at him for making her feel this way. Though, over the weekend she had begun to understand him, but it just wasn't enough. It hurt so bad, which meant it wasn't enough for him to have an understandable reason to dump her.

Another spoonful of cereal went into her mouth, but was spit right out again, when Sharpay let out victorious HA, because she had solved the riddle on the back of the cereal box. Then her cell buzzed on the table, and as she clumsily reached out to grab it to read the new text from Liz, she knocked over the cereal box, and the content of the box was all over the place.

Sharpay flipped her cellphone open, not caring about the mess, because she had decided, Ryan would probably clean it up, once he got home. He always did clean up after her. She read the message from Liz; _That's a bummer to hear, Paypay. U want a ride?_ And Sharpay immediately texted back, that she would love a ride. She hated walking alone.

She dropped the spoon in her breakfast bowl, she pushed herself away from the kitchen table and jumped off the barstool, on which she had been seated. She dragged her feet out into the hall, where she intended to get ready for Liz's arrival, but when she got out there, she was confused? She couldn't figure out, what she needed to do out there, she had lost the thread, so she walked back into the kitchen to see, if she'd get it back then.

Her cellphone was still lying on the table, which made it a good thing, that she walked back in there. She grabbed her phone, and then she remembered, she had to get ready, because Liz would be there any minute. She flipped her phone open and texted 'Get Ready' to herself, so she wouldn't forget it again. Sharpay never forgot things, she had read.

Sharpay closed her phone and walked into the hall again, where she put on a white, thin knitted half sleeved cardigan, because it was too hot to wear a jacket, but it was too cool not to wear anything over your arms. She carefully slipped her cellphone into her school back, and then she threw it over her shoulder. Now she was basically ready, she just needed a honk from her friend.

She really did hope, that it was all just a dream, but if it wasn't, she was well on her way to get him back, she believed. She was going to school, wasn't she? In the old days, before Troy, if she had been hurt deeply, or something terrible had happened at school, the old Sharpay would have skipped school. It was a step in the right direction, because hadn't Troy said, he wanted her to change or something like that?

Something like that, but still. What he wanted from her did require change on her part. A lot of it, and Sharpay hoped, that when she arrived at school that day, Troy would regret having broken up with her and take her back, once he saw that she was willing to change.

Probably not, Sharpay thought, but there was nothing wrong with hoping. She was ripped out of her depressing thoughts, when she heard a car honk, which could only mean Liz was there, so she opened the front door, closing it behind her outside.

Liz was sitting in her car, waving and smiling, trying to keep her spirit up for Sharpay, as she was walking towards the car. Maybe if Liz pretended to be her usual happy self, then maybe some of the happiness, fake or not, would rub off on Sharpay, and she wouldn't be so depressed over Troy.

Sharpay opened the door to the car and sat down next to Liz, closing the door behind her. She tried mustering a smile, but failed to succeed, so with a frown she put on her seatbelt, and then she looked at Liz, waiting patiently for her to drive off.

"Are you ready to go?" Liz asked, even though she could clearly see, that Sharpay was indeed ready to go. She was stalling, because it was almost be as hard for as for Sharpay to go back to school that monday. "I mean, my car could 'break down', and we'd be late, if you'd like?"

"Lil, you're trying to drag out the time." Sharpay observed, and Liz thought she was very good at reading people, when she wasn't too wrapped up in conspiracy theories. Sharpay was a 'people-knower'. "What's the point anyway? We should just, what was it Nadine used to say, 'rip off the bandaid'?"

"No." Liz shook her head, that wasn't it, because that would be actual good advice, and Nadine hadn't been like that. Nadine had been a mean bitch, so it definitely wasn't something she would say. "No, what she used to say was; let me rip off the bandaid for you, I know how to make it hurt."

"Right, but my point is, I'll have to face Troy sooner or later." Sharpay said, sneaking a quick glance at her house, tempted to get out of the car and run back inside, just not go to school, but she realized she had to.

"You could change school, y'know." Liz suggested, liking the idea herself. She really didn't wanna step on the speeder and go to school, she didn't know, if she could control herself in any way, when she was Chad again, or if she could contain herself from crying, when Sharpay saw Troy. "I know a few good ones, if you'd like to hear them. Well, that's a lie, I only know one; West High, and it's not really good. Nevermind."

"Lileebeth, you're gonna have to drive us to school now, even if none of wants to go." Sharpay said, eyeing Liz in a way, so she could only obey, so she stepped on the speeder and began to drive. "Thank you. Have you heard from Chase over the weekend?"

"Nada!" Liz replied, trying to keep her sentences short, as she drove. There was a 10 minutes drive to East High, so it was very difficult for someone like Liz to keep it short like that, when usually used long and silly sentences. "Texted her. No reply. Probably with Zeke."

"Yeah, probably." Sharpay nodded, agreeingly. She was impressed, that Liz could make a short reply like that sound Liz-like anyways. Sharpay moved her gaze from Liz to look forward, the school still wasn't in sight. "How did you get your licence anyways, Lil?"

"The Lil way." Liz simply said, not once removing her eyes from the road. Of course, Sharpay would get an answer like that from Liz, but she had to admit, the tiny girl was a pretty decent drive. Liz scrunched her nose. "Hey, Pay? Could you like scratch my nose?"

Sharpay stared at Liz, mouth wide open. Where did that question come from, and wherever it came from, who would even ask such a thing? But even if it was a very weird question, Liz had worked her magic of always being able to cheer Sharpay up on the spot, though in the long run, like from now and way into the future, the petite girl was without powers.

"No! Why on earth would I ever scratch your nose?" Sharpay finally said, Liz quickly took her eyes off the road to stare at Sharpay, sending her a look, as if to say 'why on earth not?', and then she faced front again.

"Fine, don't scratch my nose then." Liz said with a disappointed sigh, exaggerating it as well. "Just know, I would never refuse to scratch your nose!"

"Why don't you just ignore it?" Sharpay questioned, a little annoyed and a little amused. Liz really made her forget about a certain guy on the ride to school. "The itching will go away then."

"I can't ignore it, Pay." Liz argued, her voice getting loud and pitchy to a point, where it would make Gabriella proud, Sharpay reckoned. "Here, grab the steering wheel then, and I'll scratch it myself."

Sharpay's eyes grew scared big. "No!" She yelled, and let out a defeated say. She was scared, that Liz would actually let go, so she had no other choice. "I'll scratch your stupid nose. Just keep your hands on the wheel."

"Thank you, dear." Liz said with a posh funny voice, as Sharpay scratched her nose, and then she turned right at the end of the street, they were driving on, and the school finally came into sight. "Get ready to unbuckle, girly!"

**IRBS**

Chase entered East High by herself, Zeke had early morning basketball practise that day, and he had arrived at school an hour earlier, so he could shoot some hoops with the guys before. Chase was really proud of him for being so dedicated to his sport, and he had probably missed it and the guys, having spend his entire weekend with her.

Liz hadn't arrived at school yet, Chase noticed as she walked past her best friend's locker, and the tiny girl wasn't there, yelling hysterically at it, because she had once again forgotten her combination over the weekend, like she always did.

Chase was in a hurry, she had to get to her locker, and she had to get to it fast! She had a feeling, that she had forgotten her homework assignment for the first class at home, but she couldn't be certain, untill she had checked her locker.

It wasn't like Chase to forget something like that, though. She wasn't the smartest girl in school, but she was well off, when it came to her intelligense, and like other students her age, she didn't feel that school was the most important thing in the world, but she always made sure to stay on top of homework.

This was probably why, her overprotective dad had that stupid rule, that she wasn't allowed to date. Her thoughts had been so consumed with Zeke, that it had frozen out of her head. She had it done, though, she was certain of that, because she clearly remembered, that Zeke wanted to do anything but homework.

In case of any confusion, all of this had happened at Zeke's, which might very well be where her homework was, who to her dad was known as 'my new friend, Abigail', and that was the only reason, it was okay for her to be at his house.

They had had an argument over his alias, because Zeke thought it made him sound like a goose, and Chase thought it was irrelevant, what it sounded like, as it was only to please her father. It wasn't like, he was gonna be called Abigail on a daily basis (only if she wanted to tease him).

Yesterday at Zeke's house, when he wanted to do anything but homework, she put him back in his right place by renaming him on her phone. He was now Abigail on there as well, and then all of the sudden, it was a little easier for him to keep his mind focussed on homework and not Chase.

Chase turned right at the end of the long hallway, her locker was in that direction, and that's when she saw Troy, standing by his locker all alone. Where was Sharpay? Chase had to wonder that, seeing as ever since she and Troy became a couple, they had almost spend every living and breathing second with each, so that fact that Sharpay wasn't with him now was odd.

Troy took some books from his locker, a sad look on his face, so Chase decided to go over and talk to him, as a feeling crept up in her. A feeling, that maybe the party had actually been a scheme, a scheme there for once got played out right. If that was the case, a lot of other people was devastated as well, or would be soon, like Zeke.

Chase sighed deeply, and then she let her feet take her to Troy, plastering a smile on her face, because without actually knowing, what had happened, it was the only way, she could think of, that might cheer him up a little bit.

"Hi Troy, what's up?" Chase said, once she was at his locker. He turned to her and looked at her, sour faced. She guessed, the smile hadn't worked, but she couldn't just walk away, she had to keep talking about something. "So, where's Sharpay at?"

"How should I know?" Was Troy's rude reply to Chase's question. He slammed the door to his locker, and with one last grumpy look at Chase, he wandered off. Chase decided to follow. "What are you doing, Chase? You know, what just happened? That means 'don't follow me' in the world, that we live in!"

"Don't talk to me, like I'm stupid." Chase exclaimed, getting more and more irritated with Troy, and she wanted some answers now, because it all didn't add up. "Whatever happened to provoke this offensive behavior?"

"You know, what I hate?" Troy said, avoiding Chase's question, as he sped up the pace, making it hard for Chase to keep up with him. "I hate that you always have to be everybody's mom, trying to fix everything for everyone. And you know what else? I already have a mom, and guess what? She's keen enough to stay out of my problems, if don't wanna talk to her."

"That may very well be, Troy, but I'm your friend, and..." Chase began, as she grabbed a hold of Troy arm, making him stop in his track. She was about to continue her rant, but Troy cut her off.

"No, you're not my friend. You're Sharpay's friend." Troy yelled, pulling his arm out of Chase's grasp with force, giving her the evil eyes, and then he turned around and walked away from her. This time she didn't follow, she was too stunned by Troy's behavior to move.

Troy didn't tell her anything, all he did was talk rudely to her, but one thing she did get from all the things, he didn't say was that, something terrible had happened at Chad's party. She needed to know what, and she hoped, that once she had found Sharpay or Liz, they'd be able to tell her.

She kinda regretted leaving the party with Zeke, because she had a feeling, that her friends had needed her in some way. For support, maybe. It was difficult to know, though, it was only guessing, and she hoped deep down, that all of her guessing was way off, because she could only think of how horrible, those she cared about would feel then. Zeke, Sharpay, Liz and Troy.

When the hell was Liz and Sharpay getting there, so she could speak with them about all of this?

**IRBS**

Sharpay unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door in her side, she got out of the car in a trance like state, and she closed the door behind her, so Liz, who was already out of the car, could lock it. That's what she did, as Sharpay stood there and watched her in that trance like state of hers.

Liz put an arm around her friend's shoulder. "Are you ready to get it over with and get in there?" She questioned, and Sharpay closed her eyes, tilting her head back, so the reply would be no. "Look, Pay, I'm not that good at being an understanding friend in the way, you need it right now, but you should know one thing; if I could rewind time for you, I would." Sharpay opened her eyes and brushed Liz's arm off her shoulder, nothing against Liz, it was the physical contact part. Liz understood. "I could also go and smack Chad one for you right now, cos I really feel like it!"

It sounded very tempting for the both of them, but Sharpay still shook her with an 'nah' sound, it probably wouldn't be the smartest thing in the world. Usually Sharpay acted without thinking things through properly, but she had all weekend to think things over, and even though giving Chad some hurt sounded good, they would just be as bad as him, if they did something about it.

"You sure?" Liz questioned, sending a look that was very unlike her towards the doors of East High, like she couldn't wait to break Chad's neck, and it worried Sharpay a little. She couldn't see her friend in those eyes, Chad must have really hurt her, she had no idea. "I mean, I know where he is. Basketball practise, I'm a fast runner, I can be there in a sec. Please?"

"Lilee, let's just get it over with and go inside." Sharpay sighed, taking the first step towards the enterance, followed by the next and the next, Liz always by her side. "I hate this place so much, but what are you gonna do? I could easily skip school, and really, it wouldn't be a surprise to any of the teachers, but I'm trying to change, for Troy."

Liz looked at Sharpay, as she pushed the doors to East High open. That sentence held so much in it, not what she said, but how she said it had a lot of meaning. "You don't feel good in anyway, do ya?" Liz wondered out loud, shooting a concerned glance her friend's way. Sharpay merely shrugged, she hated intimate conversations like this, but she had to get used to them someday, if she was ever supposed to have that future with Troy, that she wanted. "You are so out of place here, I can see it on you. You should be somewhere... somewhere... ask Chase. Just not here, it's no place for someone like you."

Sharpay raised a brow at Liz in 'what did you just say' kinda way. "Someone like me?" She questioned, eyeing her friend in a weird, Liz couldn't tell if she was offended or not, but that hadn't been her intention. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

They turned around the corner, as they reached the end of the hallway. They were so focussed on each other, that they weren't looking ahead, so they bumped into someone, a girl who dropped her books, and Sharpay dropped her schoolbag, and Liz fell forward and slid across the slibbery floor.

Liz rolled onto her back, and then she sat up. Her legs hurt too much to get up right away, her chin hurt too. Sharpay bent down and picked up her bag, she threw it back over her shoulder, and watched the girl, who turned out to be Chase, pick up her books. The right thing to do would be to help her, but Sharpay's mind didn't work that way, so she just watched as Chase picked up her books.

"What did Lil mean by what?" Chase asked, once all her books were safely tucked in her arms again, she let go with one hand and walked over to Liz, offering her the hand to help her up. When Liz was back on her two feet, Chase carried on. "What has she done now?"

"What have I done now, would you listen to yourself?" Liz argued, crossing her arms in offense. Why did Chase always assume, she wasn't that spacey, all over the place, was she? "What makes you think, that I've done something?"

"You've always done something." Chase reasoned, in a summing up the case, end of discussion sort of way. She turned and looked at Sharpay, because she knew, that if Liz had done something, she would never admit to it so easily, but Sharpay would fess up. "She did something, right?"

"Yeah, she talked over herself, and I still wanna know, what she meant by it." Sharpay explained, looking at Liz over the shoulder of Chase, and Liz shot her a sweet smile, as if to say, that she had meant no harm. "I don't belong here, she said, using the phrase 'someone like me'"

"I meant nothing by it, I just meant, you should be a place where..." Liz closed her eyes, trying to come up with the perfect word, but again it didn't come to her. It just wasn't her area of expertise, she was more of a cheer up person, and that she couldn't even do at this point. Luckily, Chase came to her aid.

"They care about the individual person, a place with people having the same disability as you, that way school would be more fun for you, you'd get more friends, and it would all be easier to get through." Chase explained, while Liz nodded along, it had been exactly, what she had in mind. Sharpay offered Chase a half-hearted, appreciative smile, which was all she could muster right then, but Chase deserved some kind of smile for her effort. "You don't feel good here, out of place, so it would be good for you. But it's kinda hard with your parents not knowing, that you know about your handicap, when you aren't supposed to, so you can't really get the right 'help'."

Chase used air quotes for help, because it was a ridiculous word. Sharpay liked the way her friend put it, it was in control, and not as awkward as when Liz tried, though the tiny girl had meant well. Liz was staring at Chase, her jaw almost down on the floor, the way she had treated her best friend friday, she couldn't believe Chase was there, acting like everything was alright between them, and what Liz had said hadn't hurt her, but Chase had always been a forgiving person.

"Why are you even here?" Liz questioned, she had to know, because she had been so mean. Forgiving person or not, nobody should let something like that go that easily, Chase should hate her for at least a week, so what was going on? "I mean, after what I said to you?"

"Lil, what you said was very wrong, but I don't hold grudges, plus I was kinda pushing your buttons, wasn't I?" Chase smiled at her best friend, forgiving her for something had always been the easiest thing, because Liz was so lovable and easy to forgive. But her former issues with Liz wasn't the important thing right now, what was going on with Troy and Sharpay was, so she focussed her attention on Sharpay, wanting to get at the buttom of it. "Anyway, I ran into Troy, he was in lovely mood, Pay. Has anything happened between you two?"

Sharpay glanced down on her feet, if only Chase had stayed at the party, then she would have known, and she would have been there during the weekend, and then Sharpay wouldn't have had to explain everything to her. It was unbearable to think about, and putting words to it would be even worse. "I... Let's just say, Chad finally got his way." She tried nonetheless, and Chase shot her a confused look, even though she had a suspicion to what, it might be. She urged Sharpay to go on. "Troy broke up with me. I begged him not to, but he wants me to change. I think, he wants me to come to terms with my handicap, instead of distancing myself from it, and realize that I'm special." Sharpay sighed, watching both Chase and Liz nodding along, even if the tiniest of them already knew the story. "It's just so hard, I don't feel special, and I feel so out of place, like I'm in the wrong setting. Especially at that party, I could see how all these 'normal' teenagers acted, and I felt like a total alien, and of course I had to open my stupid mouth about it, saying the thing Troy told me, he'd break up with me, if I said it. Just like Chad wanted."

"That's it!" Liz shrieked, she spun around on her heel, and began heading down the hallway towards the gym in such a speed, that even the fastest soccer player wouldn't have been able to keep up with her. "I'm gonna kick Chad Danforth's ass, and whoever gets in my way!"

"She's in an awesome mood." Chase acknowledged, her voice filled with irony. Sharpay was about to follow after Liz to try and stop her, but Chase grabbed her arm and held her back. "Don't! She won't ever get to kick anybody's ass. She'll throw a huge tandrum first with her shrieky voice, y'know, and then she'll get thrown out of the gym by Coach Bolton for causing a scene. She won't ever get to stretch out a curl on that big afro of his." Sharpay stopped fighting Chase, who let go of her hand. Sharpay looked at Chase with such emotion, that it almost hurt the brunette. She had been right about Chad, why hadn't she stayed at the party? "I'm so sorry, Sharpay, had I known, what would happen, I would have never left the damn thing, and I would have made sure, that Chad wouldn't have hurt you and Troy like this. There's nothing I can do about it, though, but be there for you the best I can now."

The tears started splashing out of Sharpay's eyes, she needed comfort, and without even thinking about it, she laid her head on Chase's should and just let the tears fall freely, not even caring if anybody saw her. Chase placed an arm around Sharpay, stroking her arm up and down, comforting her.

"I really needed you this weekend, Liz needed you." Sharpay managed to get through the tears, Chase making shushing sounds to calm her down. "All the things you could have said to make it better, you always make it better, but we agreed to not ruin yours and Zeke's happiness."

"Sometimes friends come first, and Zeke would have understood it, if you guys needed me." Chase told her hysterical friend, but what use was it now, telling Sharpay this? But at this point, it was what she could do, at least while Sharpay was crying like this. "This is horrible for you, Shar, I hope it would all just go away soon. This hurts us all, but we can get through it together, I'll be there whenever you need me, okay? Just call."

Sharpay nodded softly, hickupping through the tears. She was about to say something, but then the bell rang, and instead she said; "We better get to class."

**IRBS**

Troy had crashed practise that day, wanting to get back on the team, and now that he was finished with Sharpay, both his team mates and his dad were more than happy to let him back on the team. Especially Chad, who were that hideous smile of his all throughout practise. Well, almost.

The only time Chad hadn't been smirking with satisfaction, was when Liz had barged through the doors to the gym, then he had looked horrified and hurt, but in Troy's mind he got, what he deserved, after all his attempts to ruin him and Sharpay.

Liz had made total scene, screaming and pushing Chad. Some guys on the team had tried to keep her away from Chad, but she had fought herself out of their grips, she had her mind set on pounding on him, so no-one could keep her from that.

It was chaotic, and Liz had managed to rip a chunk of Chad's hair off, before coach Bolton had grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out, kicking and screaming. Nobody had ever seen Liz like that before, and it didn't take Zeke long to add two and two together.

So now he and Troy were walking towards their math class together, they were both feeling bad, but still Troy was focussing on Zeke's problem, rather than his own. It hurt too much to even think about, that he'd have to break it off with Sharpay.

"I am the worst boyfriend ever." Zeke exclaimed, throwing his arms up in frustration. He let them fall down again, but the frustration hadn't disappeared. He had been unbelievable. "The minute we arrived at the party, Chase could tell things weren't right, and Chad had some things up his sleeve, and I had the nerve to tell her, that she was out of her mind. I even phrased the words; Chad has been my friend longer, than you've been my girlfriend."

"Dude!?" Troy half-yelled, disbelief in his voice. He grabbed Zeke's arm, stopping them both. "You didn't say that, did you? What the hell were you thinking? To her, do you have any idea, how that came across?"

"I know, like if it came down to it, I would pick Chad over her." Zeke said, as Troy let go of his arm, and they proceeded walking. "Luckily for me, I have a very forgiving girlfriend. She let it all go, like it had never happened, and we had the best weekend together. Still, now I feel so bad, because I was the one wrong."

"Just tell her you're sorry, and I'm sure she'll forgive you." Troy adviced, they were reaching the corner soon, and once they'd turned that, they'd be on the hallway, where Sharpay's locker was. He hoped he wouldn't see her, and he slowed down his walk a little, and Zeke did the same, without thinking about it. "She's like that, you said so yourself. She's very forgiving. Oh, by the way..." Troy grabbed a hold of Zeke arm, stopping them both again, as he remembered how rude, he had been to Chase earlier that day, he felt like he needed to tell Zeke. "I gave your girlfriend attitude this morning. She spotted me by my locker without Sharpay, and she knew something was up, so she came to me like a good friend all concerned, wanting to know what, and I told her off. I just wanted you to know, and in my defense I was so upset over the thing with Shar, that I couldn't handle it properly."

"I understand. Now, is it because you don't wanna get to class, that you keep doing the grab and stop routine, or are you just that into touching me?" Zeke said, referring to Troy's hand, which still had a firm grasp around Zeke's arm. Troy immediately let go, and slowly began dragging his feet, and Zeke followed his example. "But trust me Troy, that's all in the past now. She could see you were upset, so she probably let it go, as the words left your mouth."

"Yeah.." Troy thoughtfully agreed, but he still felt as though he had lost a good friend in Chase that day, because he had acted like that towards he, even if she blamed him for nothing. "Still we all know, that my friendship with Chase is over. I mean, she's one of Sharpay's two best friends, so of course she's gonna be loyal to Sharpay and end her friendship with me."

"Is that what you think, she's gonna do?" Zeke questioned, as they turned around the corner. Zeke sounded like Troy had lost it, and he could probably find loads of people who'd agree. "Chase is not like that. If you still wanna be friends with her, she's still gonna be your friend, like I'm still gonna be friends with Sharpay. If that's okay with you?"

"See, it's that 'if that's okay with you' that worries me." Troy said, stopping for what could easily turn out to be the billionth time, and then he turned to be face to face with Zeke, carrying on the conversation. "What if Chase asked the same to Sharpay, obviously her answer to your girlfriend would be no."

Troy scanned the hallway to see, if there was any sign of Sharpay, which there wasn't as far, as he could see. The neighbour locker to Sharpay's stood open, so of course she could be behind that, but if he couldn't see her, she wasn't there.

"You don't know that, maybe Sharpay's not like that." Zeke tried to reason with him, and Troy shot him a look, he couldn't argue with. Sharpay was like that, but then Chase was not the kind of girl to ask the 'if that's okay with you' very often. "Okay, so maybe she is like that, but I know my girlfriend, and she's not."

As Zeke ended that sentence, they were approached from behind by Gabriella. She put an arm around both Troy and Zeke's shoulders, with a huge smile on her face, hoping that her good mood would rub off on Troy.

"You feeling better today?" She questioned, as she let her arms fall off their shoulders, trying to start up a conversation. She hadn't been able to, when she had arrived at Troy's house to talk with, after what happened at the party. "More talkative?"

"Yeah, totally. I'm getting a soar throat." Troy replied, sarcastically. He slapped himself mentally, because Gabriella had stepped up, when it really mattered, so he shouldn't be pushing her away like that, but when he was hurt, he tended to act all sarcastic. "Sorry Gabs, you've been a good friend recently, trying to make me feel better all weekend, you don't deserve to be spoken to like that."

"It's okay, you're allowed." Gabriella said, letting Troy's sarcastic attitude brush off of her. She knew Troy acted like this, when his feelings were hurt, she had known him for years. "You've just broken up with Sharpay, and you're hurting, and everybody heals in their own way. It's okay."

"That's my opinion, too. He's been snapping at everyone today, I'm just lucky I haven't gotten a taste of it yet." Zeke said, patting Troy on the back, and Gabriella let out a small giggle. Troy's expression remained unchanged. "And he doesn't have a sense of humour today, either. Try to lighten up, Troy."

Troy watched him, stone-faced. "Lighten up?" He repeated what Zeke had said, lifting up his brows, like he couldn't believe, Zeke had just said that. Clearly he had to explain a thing or two to both him and Gabriella. "You know, what I've been feeling all weekend, and still feeling? Let me paint you a picture; a dark cloud is hanging over my head, and it's like it follows me wherever I'm at."

"He's snapped at you now." Gabriella pointed out, and Zeke made a face at her as a reply. They had both almost given up on cheering him up, so they were just gonna let him be said, but still be there for him as friends, when he wanted them. "Okay, listen now, Troy. We realize, that Sharpay was like the love of your life, and the fact that you had to dump her, was like a total disaster, but life will go on. You'll feel better one day, unfortunately it takes a lot of time."

"I know that. It's just weird to me, that I feel this bad, because my decision was for the better." He said with a sigh, and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the door to the girl's bathroom slam shut, and he knew it could only be one person. She had probably overheard their conversation and got upset over something, but it wasn't his problem anymore. "I just got tired of it all, all the drama and everything. She has to deal with her issues alone, I can't deal with them for her."

The bell ran before any of them could reply, and Zeke and Troy hurried off to their math class together. Gabriella was headed somewhere else, she had something she needed to do.

**IRBS**

Sharpay rushed into the bathroom and sat down next to the sink closest to the door, her back resting against the wall of tiles. She knew, she should be in class now, as she'd just heard the sound of the bell, but when she was gathering her books from her locker, she heard a certain voice. The voice of Troy Bolton, and she was reminded of it all again, and it became too much, she had to get out of there.

What better place to run to, than her usual hideout? Positively Troy wouldn't follow her out there anymore, those days were gone, as much as she wished for them not to be, they were. No one was gonna follow her out there.

Well, Chase or Liz would, hadn't it been for that math class, they had to attend now. They probably already knew, she was in there, since she was missing, but they couldn't ditch math like that, which Sharpay so often did, because they took school seriously (yes, even Liz). It wasn't their fault, Sharpay couldn't handle all of this.

The first tear travelled down her cheek, as she thought about all of these things. She had promised herself, she would change for Troy, but it became quite clear to her, that she couldn't, and that she didn't know how to. She needed guidelines of some sort, and she needed to know point by point what to do, and she needed someone to do it first, so she could see how it was done, otherwise she didn't dare. She was like that, her stupid handicap made her that way, and now the first guy who truly understood her was out of her life for good.

Another tear. She thought over the things Chase had said, the things Liz had agreed upon, and she couldn't help but wonder, if maybe they had been right? Maybe she belonged at another school for people like her, if that existed? But she couldn't handle changing school, it would be too big a change, it would be too many new things, and there'd be too many people, she didn't know. She needed help, it became more and more clear to her.

The tears were racing down her cheeks now, and she didn't even bother drying them away. What was the use anyways? New ones would just follow right after, so why bother? And if she was mentally prepared enough to change school, there still was that tiny little problem of her parents. She needed to tell them, she knew, and those kind of conversations... she couldn't handle those, she just couldn't.

She heard the door to the bathroom creak open, and she looked at the door's direction, and she saw a girl with long, curly brown hair closing it behind her. Sharpay couldn't make out, who the girl was, untill she turned around and Sharpay saw, that it was Gabriella Montez who'd gone to the bathroom.

Sharpay quickly brushed away the tears, hoping that Gabriella hadn't had the time to see them, but she was in no such luck. The latina sat down next to Sharpay, only a few inches away from her. The closeness, physically, scared Sharpay, it was uncomfortable, but Gabriella was so much a stranger to Sharpay now, that she didn't dare say anything. She remained quiet, and so did the latina for a long while.

"I heard about you and Troy, I'm so sorry." Gabriella said, genuine sympathy in her voice, as she glanced at Sharpay, whose eyes were faced front, not keen on eye contact in situations like these with a girl like Gabriella. But even so, Gabriella new once removed her gaze. "I told Chad to stop his scheming, but he wouldn't listen. I told him, that you and Troy was an ongoing thing, and he had no right to mess with you."

"I thought, you and Chad were on the same side?" Sharpay questioned, her voice hard. She had no idea, that Gabriella had nothing to do with the way things were now, that she had actually spend her time at the party telling Chad off. How could she know? The only thing she knew was, that she was angry with Gabriella, more so than she had ever been before. "I thought, Chad had told you a sob story, exaggerating it of course, we're talking about Chad, which you believed, because obviously you hate me, and you didn't even bother hearing both sides of the stories."

"I repeat; I told Chad not to do it. Ever since we found out, you and Troy had gotten together, I've refused to help him. I agreed to help him keep you from getting together, because of that said sob story, and you wanna know why? He seemed genuinely upset." Gabriella explained in a soft voice, her eyes still on Sharpay's. She didn't want Sharpay angry with her, she wanted to make things right, if she could. "That doesn't excuse what I did, though, nothing does. No matter how hurt you are or you've been, you have no right to do, what he ended up doing. He told me, you just cut all contact without any kind of explanation, and I could see the hurt and fury in his eyes, but no matter how much he grudged you, I never thought he'd follow through. I should tried to stop him sooner. I'm sorry, Sharpay."

"You wanna know why, I cut all contact with him, without any kind of explanation?" Sharpay asked, thinking it was totally unfair of Gabriella to have chosen a side like that, without having heard both sides. Her eyes finally met the latina's, who offered her a tiny smile, which she did not return. "You know, my side of the story, not his twisted made up one."

Gabriella sighed, things weren't going so well. They could always be going worse, at least Sharpay hadn't began yelling or anything yet, but Gabriella had gone out there to attempt, what she had failed to do with Troy; make Sharpay feel better, but it wasn't working much, because Sharpay didn't co-operate. It was as if she prefered to be in a lousy mood.

So far Gabriella's attempts hadn't been the best, she would admit to that herself, but Sharpay had never been the easiest girl to carry a conversation with, Gabriella remembered that, from when they used to be best friends way back in the days, before Sharpay began seeming different, and it became too much for Gabriella to handle, not knowing what was going on with her.

Maybe that was what, Sharpay was about to tell her about now? Maybe the way she had acted back then, all different and sort of weird, had something to do with all that Chad drama? In that case, she definitely wanted to know, what Sharpay was about to tell her. Sharpay's version wouldn't contain so many 'Chad is an evil little... something', and it wouldn't be as uncomfortable to listen to as Chad's rant had been back then.

"Sure, tell it all to aunty Gabby." Gabriella joked, trying to lighten the tension, but Sharpay looked at her, like she had totally lost it. Gabriella remembered, how Sharpay didn't always catch a joke, when it was made, so she let it go, and chose to rephrase. "Nevermind, Sharpay. Just tell me why, you broke contact with Chad, please."

"This is difficult for me to get through." Sharpay led off by saying, twitching nervously. It really was difficult, especially in an intimate situation like this, but Gabriella let her take her time. "The thing is, I've always been different, and the older I got, the clearer it became to me, because... well, people made it clear to me, you among them. I can't really explain it properly, but one day I came home crying, that I was different." She paused, taking in a breath. Gabriella payed attention to every word, still looking at Sharpay, who'd now looked away. "My mom always knew, I was different, and the day I came home crying about it, she decided to get me checked or something. They brought me to this place for a check up of some sort, lying to me saying that it was something, that every kid my age needed to go through. So I went there, got tested, and they found out, what was wrong with me."

Sharpay paused again, longer than before, and Gabriella thought she was done talking. She couldn't be done talking, the story wasn't finished, so Gabriella had to ask; "Then what happened? Was something wrong with you? Are you okay?"

"Something is wrong with me, yes, and whether I'm okay or not really depends on how, you look at it." Sharpay replied, looking at Gabriella with a sad smile, and the latina smiled back with a slightly more happy one, glad Sharpay was telling her this. "My parents and my brother were told, that I have this handicap called Asperger's Syndrome, which is something you're born with, and it's something you can't see."

"Oh yeah, I've read about that. It was named after this guy called Hans Asperger. I don't know why, I never thought of it, that it could be your 'thing'." Gabriella began rambling, and Sharpay shot her a look, as if to say 'who here was talking?', and Gabriella immediately stopped talking with a; "Sorry!"

"My parents decided amongst themselves, that I shouldn't know about it, but Ryan thought otherwise and told me." Sharpay explained, and Gabriella was about to open her mouth again and say something, but Sharpay shot her another look, and the latina remained quiet. "After I found out, I don't remember why, but I thought, that once my friends found out, they wouldn't wanna be friends with me anymore, so I ditched them, before they ditched me." She paused, looking at Gabriella who nodded and took it all in, now finally understanding everything. "And that's what happened with Chad."

"So, I suppose Troy knows, and Chase and Liz know now too?" Gabriella questioned, because they seemed to know, and the things Troy had said that weekend, it could only add up to him knowing. Sharpay nodded. "But why did you and Troy break up, you seemed so happy together."

"He.. I have issues. It's kinda like, I'm distancing myself from my handicap, and he sorta felt like, he had to carry both me and my handicap, and it became too much for him to handle, which I totally get." Sharpay explained her way, she didn't get it herself totally, so she just said what she understood from it, what she was certain Troy had meant. "He wants me to stop distancing myself, calling myself a freak and everything there was wrong, he wants me to accept the way things are, deal with and realize, that I'm special. I want to, I really do, it's the only chance, I have of ever being with him again, I just don't know how."

"I'm glad you told me all of this, Sharpay. And I hope we can be friends now, because I feel like now we can." Gabriella said, as she got up from the bathroom floor. She turned around, bent down and offered Sharpay a helping hand up, which the blonde girl accepted. "I'm very sorry about the whole Chad thing, now that you've told me this, I regret it more than anything. And I wanna make up for it by helping you come to terms with your handicap." She revealed, and Sharpay glared at her all confused, and Gabriella had to elaborate. "I think, what you need to do first is say; I have Asperger's Syndrome, and there's nothing I can do about it! And then take it from there, because you were born with it after all. And maybe you should come up with some kind of plan, and I can help you with afterwards, I can even help you with the plan, if you want it?"

"That would be nice." Sharpay said, now smiling for real. She had completely forgotten, how nice Gabriella could be, when she was your friend, and she was sure, that with Gabriella's help it would all be much easier. She was gonna make that plan and change herself for the better all with the help of Gabriella. She was gonna start with what Gabriella had suggested. "I have Asperger's Syndrome, and there's nothing I can do about."

And then they left the bathroom together, wrapped up in a new conversation.

**IRBS**

Sharpay's day had turned out alright, who knew it would? She hadn't expected it, but all her friends proved to be her real friends and really came through for her. Chase and Liz, of course, had been great, even if Liz's attempts to make her feel better had been a little clumpsy, and surprisingly Gabriella came through for her. So not only was she feeling semi okay now, she had also made a new friend.

They were all walking down the hallway together towards the school's exit, the bell had just rung for the last time that day, so they were finally off school for the day. Chase and Liz were holding hands, Chase trying to explain to Liz, that the Halloween movie starring Jamie Lee Curtis wasn't called H2O but H20. H2O meant water, which no matter how many times Chase tried, Liz did not get. Gabriella and Sharpay were walking in silence, Sharpay was never in much of talking mood at that time of the day, plus she had her mind full of things, but Gabriella was there if she needed it.

"But I don't get it. H2O and H20 is the same thing." Liz whined, and Chase sighed with frustration. Life would be so much easier, if say Liz wasn't so 'bright and shiny'. "It confuses me, when I ask for the movie H2O at Blockbuster, they stare at me like I'm crazy."

"Lil, I'm not gonna have this discussion with you anymore." Chase said in a motherly kind of way, it was tiring saying the same thing over and over again, and then it just went into one ear with Liz and out of the other. "Let's talk about something else, like how Gabby and Shar got to talking again?"

"Why should we talk about them, when they don't say anything?" Liz questioned, and she had a good point, Chase saw that. And then she came with another good point; "And we've already heard about the story in the bathroom, why should we hear it again?"

"It's called making conversation." Chase exclaimed, ripping Sharpay out of the string of thoughts, she was having, which mostly included plans she was making. Liz stuck out her tongue at Chase, and the brunette was quick and grabbed it between her fingers. Liz let out a bunch of sighs, probably trying to say 'let go' or something. "Are we done here?"

Liz was in agony, or her tongue was. She wasn't done, but she had to be, if she wanted her tongue back, so she nodded her pretty little head, and Chase let go of it. Sharpay shook her head at her two friends, and looked at Gabriella, wondering what the latina was thinking about them. She hoped they weren't too Chase and Liz for her liking.

"Sharpay is step by step dealing with her handicap." Gabriella changed the subject of the conversation, and Sharpay was glad she did, because she wanted her two best friends to know, she just didn't know how to tell them herself, so thank God for Gabriella. "She's accepted, she has it, and now she has to deal with it. She also likes the idea of going to a school with individuals such as herself."

"That's what I was trying to tell her this morning!" Liz interrupted, and they all eyed her because of it. The tiny girl became a little smaller, but continued nonetheless. "I mean, that what I meant by people like Sharpay, or what it was that I said." She paused, she looked at them all with puppy eyes, hoping her point would come across with them. "I say so many things."

"Yeah, unfortunately." Sharpay said, her mood became gloomy all of the sudden, probably because Troy walked into sight with his friend Zeke, Chase's boyfriend, and… Sharpay was just so confused. "My only problem is, that when I do change, because I feel ready to change, or improve, let's call it that, how do I convince him that I have?"

Sharpay pointed at Troy's and Zeke's direction, and like a reflex Gabriella, Chase and Liz all turned their heads to see, who it was. Troy and Zeke, should they even be surprised? Wasn't it like that, when you broke up with a guy from school, you'd suddenly see him everywhere, because it was the things you least wanted.

Gabriella, Chase and Liz couldn't imagine, what it must be like. Chase had Zeke, whom she had no intentions of breaking up with. All Gabriella's ex-boyfriends were spread in different states in the country, she had no idea why, but she had always done long distance relationships, which proved not to be very wise. Liz had never had a boyfriend for real, and she had hoped Chad would be, but he let her down, so in a way she kinda understood. Only in a way, though, otherwise she wouldn't have ripped the chunk of hair off Chad's head.

Troy noticed Sharpay, stopping in his tracks, he was kind of like a broken record at that, and he locked eyes with her, until she turned her head away. The pain was too much. "There are so many things, that needs to be done, but do you think, that when they are, he'll notice me being gone." Sharpay questioned her friends, thinking that Troy didn't even care. He'd probably think, that when she was no longer there, it would be because she'd simply stopped going, not because she had changed. "I wish someone would say, that it was just a dream, but UGH…" She paused, all the hurt and anger that she had forgotten during the day snuck up on her. "I need to get out of here."

Sharpay ran out of there, quickly followed by Liz, who had been there for Sharpay all weekend and wasn't about to stop now. Gabriella glanced in the direction of where, the two girls had been running, debating with herself whether or not she should follow after them.

She was Troy's friend as well as Sharpay's, and how wouldn't it make him feel, if he saw her chasing after an upset Sharpay. It would make him feel the same way. Upset. But he did seem to have Zeke, the dude was at his side right then even, so maybe it wouldn't be such a harm.

"I think I'm gonna go too." Gabriella said, turning her head and facing Chase, as she placed a gentle hand on the shorter brunette's shoulder. "You wanna come with?"

Chase nodded, smiling at the latina, and then she glanced over at her boyfriend and friend? She looked back at Gabriella, still smiling. "Sure, I'll just be a sec."

Gabriella offered Chase a smile, letting her hand drop from her shoulder, and then she spun around on her heel, taking fast steps out of East High. Now all of Chase's attention was upon Zeke and Troy.

She walked over to them with a smile on her face. It had been kind of theme that day; 'smile and you might cheer up a friend', and that's what she was attempting. Troy's expression remained unchanged, not a single hint of a smile, but Zeke had the widest grin on his face, because his girlfriend was approaching them.

"So, Troy? Have you worked on your conversation skills, or are they as lovely as this morning?" Chase joked, as she reached them, and Zeke put his arm around her, she hoped he would get it, if his mood wasn't too nasty.

"Yeah, about that..." Troy said, scratching the back of his head. He'd been feeling ashamed all day, ever since he snapped at Chase, she was only trying to be nice back then, as she was now. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be such a jerk. My mood was just below the lowest, and I guess you were unlucky."

"It's okay, Troy, I get it. You didn't mean to snap, I just hope you've realized by now, that I'm your friend too, not just Sharpay's." Chase accepted his apology, and Troy was amazed, how she could let it go that easily. He wouldn't have, but she did. She watched Zeke with a loving look in her eyes, and when he noticed it, he looked at her with questions in his. "I think I wanna introduce you to my father."

"Are you kidding me?" Zeke exclaimed, removing his arm from his girlfriend's shoulder. She had completely lost it, he was freaking out, and the look he had upon his face at that moment, actually cheered up Troy a little. "After everything I've heard about your dad, he'll absolutely kill me!"

"Most likely." Chase said, shrugging her shoulders, which freaked Zeke even more out, that she took it so lightly. My dad is gonna kill my boyfriend, no problem. She placed her hand on his shoulder, and her touch immediately calmed him down. "No, I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you. It's just all of this has taught me, that I shouldn't keep secrets from your parents, or anybody for that matter, look what state it has brought Sharpay in. Which reminds me..." She turned to look at Troy, removing her hand from Zeke's shoulder to cross her arms. "Why did you break up with her? No, I know why you broke up with her, but why?"

"You said you knew why. It just... it all became too much, I can't be with her, when she's gotta be like that." Troy explained, and Chase nodded her head, she knew exactly what 'like that' meant, all three of them did. "But what do you mean? The state Sharpay is in?"

"Her secrets are coming back to bite her, one of them already has." Chase was being mysterious, but Troy didn't know everything, and she wasn't the one to tell him, if he needed to know, Sharpay should be the one to tell him. "Anyway, do you guys wanna call it a day?"

They all agreed to call it a day, like Chase had said. Zeke put his arm around Chase again, and they all walked out of East High. Chase was feeling kind of bad, because she had promised to be there for Sharpay, but then again Sharpay hadn't said she needed her, so she was free. Zeke was feeling anxious and not in a good way, he was in line to meet 'dad', but before he did, he felt like he needed to apologize to Chase somehow, though she seemed to have forgiven him.

Troy thought about everything. Secrets. It was still a secret to his family, that he had broken up with Sharpay, all except for his dad, and they would kill him once they found out, unlike his dad who patted him on the back with a 'good job, son'. It was a secret, that he regretted breaking up with Sharpay, wishing it was just a dream, but it was for the better, he knew that

He was curious to know, what Sharpay was up to, because from what Chase had said, it seemed like she was up to something, but it wasn't Troy's place to know anymore. Someday he'd have to learn to go on without Sharpay and without feeling miserable, and someday seemed faraway.

_The end. Of this chapter at least. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, but it was how it went, and I hope you'll all be happy with it, and you'll review? Next chapter should be here soon hopefully, and it'll be mostly about Sharpay. There'll be new meetings, make-ups and secrets revealed. See if you can figure that one out? Anyway, thank for reading this, and please review ;b._

**Laters, AK-tutti :)**


	14. Reinventing Myself

_G'day ;b. What's up? I just wanna thank ya all for the awesome reviews, and I wanna try my best to update faster, because you're so amazing, that you deserve it. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, which is sorta all around, but I don't think there'll be much Troy in it, at least not as much as everybody else, but you'll live obviously. Oh, and Liz won't make that big of an appearance either, but the chapter will feature more Chad than ever before, but it will be in a good way, and I'm sure you'll like him in this. And also, I've been sick a week, so I couldn't write on this chapter, and I can't write very much, when I'm well either, because I still don't have my own computer, it's still broken, so I have to make do with what I've got, but here it is finally. Anyway, on with this thing :)._

_**Disclaimer;**__ I've seen all the movies, but that doesn't make me own them._

_**Dedication;**__ This is unbelievable, it seems as if __**xForeverTroypay **__has the intentions of taking over the dedication spot, because this chapter is dedicated to her as well, which is like an extra honour to her, as this is the chapter I'm most excited to write, and I think you'll like the most. Her review was just the best ever, and I was smiling so much, that I didn't know, what the hell happened to me, so this is for her, so I hope she'll more than anyone enjoy this :D._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**13. Reinventing Myself.**

He was nervous, watching the big two-storeys lightblue house made of tree, surrounded by tree with the branches and leaves blowing in the mild summer wind.

He was dreading going in there, he knew who was in there; the infamous Steven Feller, a very stern man, the father of Chase Annabelle Feller, his girlfriend.

It didn't help his nerves to think about, Steven Feller was a kick-ass attorney. Everybody knew about him, everybody wanted him on their side, and everybody feared him. Zeke was one of everybody.

He had Chase by his hand, but it didn't help him, he still had to go in there and meet his girlfriend's father, who wouldn't let his daughter date, and on top of that he was a racist.

In its overall appearance, it was a nice looking house, but the man inside made it 'horror movie, don't go in there' frightening. Hadn't it been for the big, scary man, it would have been very grandmother-y.

He glanced down on his watch and gulped, if it had to happen before school, like Chase wanted it to, it had to happen in a few minutes, and he wasn't at all ready to face the music. He wasn't ready to die, he hadn't even said goodbye to his mother, he hadn't had the chance to tell his father, that he wanted to be a baker and not a basketball player, and now death awaited him.

"Are you ready for this?" Chase questioned him, squeezing his hand to reassure him. He didn't reply, he was too nervous. "Don't be like that, Zeke, my dad is a nice guy. A little overprotective, maybe, but I'm sure, that if you stay out of touching distance, there is a chance he might... uhm, how do I put it?, accept your presence."

"Chase, if you love me, you won't let me go in there." Zeke half-begged, looking down upon his girlfriend, a pleading look in his eyes. He didn't want to go in there, there had been to many horrible stories about her dad. "Please, don't make me go in there. I'll die!"

"Have you considered joining the drama department?" Chase teased him, but he did not find it funny at all, he shot her a death glare, and she decided, it would be best not to push her luck. "No, seriously Zeke, he won't kill you. I swear to you, he won't, and if he as much touches a hair on that gorgeous head of yours, I promise you, I'll watch Rush Hour 1, 2 and 3 with you, even if the dialogue is crap!"

She had managed to amuse him, his eyes shone a bit now. "So kinda like I suffer, you suffer?" He asked, curiously, finding her propersition very much tempting, though he wondered, what kind of boyfriend would he be, if he agreed to that? "That wouldn't make me a very nice guy, now would it?"

"Nope." Chase shook her head, her brown shoulder-length hair flowing everywhere, and only her hair could manage to look styled after a treatment like that, and that's what it did. "But it would make you a guy. I think, you should go for it, Zeke. Even if I hate the movies, I love you, and seeing the excitement in your eyes, when you watch them, will make me happy, so yeah... go for it."

"Fine!" Zeke finally agreed with a sigh, but though he had given in to her request to meet her father, he was still gonna drag out time the best he could. "But I still don't see, why we couldn't have done this later, say next week?"

Chase looked at her boyfriend, her face clearly bothered by all of his attempts to get out of meeting her dad. "Zeke, I won't hear anymore objections from you, am I making myself clear?" Chase said, sounding like a strict mother, as she pulled her hand out of his, crossing her arm over her chest. "Look, I have a friend, who is in a very vulnerable state, and who needs me, and instead I'm here with you, so you better make my being a bad friend be worthwhile." She sighed, realizing she shouldn't put that on him, and chose to go another way, short and direct. "Look, I love you, Zeke, and either you do this for me, or you don't."

"You are lucky, I love you too." Zeke said, offering Chase a smile, and she smiled back, unfolding her arms, and linked her hand with Zeke's again. "Just, don't let go of my hand, and whatever you do, don't tell him I'm black. We'll call me tanned, okay?"

Chase and Zeke hand in hand walked up the steps of the stairs to Chase's house, Chase holding on tight on Zeke's hand, supporting him the best she could, because he was dead scared, and she understood him. The scary beast awaited them!

When they reached the door, Chase pulled the handle down, and the door creaked open, and Zeke thought to himself, what a nice touch. Wasn't it scary enough on its own, did it need a creaking door?

"Daddy?" Chase called out, as they stepped inside the house. She held on to Zeke's hand, closing the creaking door, and it sent shivers down his spine, but her touch mellowed it a little bit. "Daddy, where are you?"

"In here, honeybun." A voice called from another room, Zeke guessed it to be the livingroom, and his voice didn't sound intimidating, but he knew the owner of it was.

Chase raced into the livingroom, dragging Zeke with her to meet her dad, who sat in the corner of the room in a comfy chair, watching CNN on the television. He was so wrapped up in whatever was on there, that he looked kinda mean, but with Chase by his side, the scary man hopefully wouldn't hurt him.

"Hi daddy." Chase cheered, once in the livingroom, and then she let go of Zeke's hand, and rushed over to her dad, bent down and gave him a big hug, followed by a kiss on the cheek.

Steven released his daughter, and said with a smile; "Hi Chase, sweetie. Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Chase merely shrugged, and then her father noticed Zeke standing in the back ground, and his smile turned into a gloomy frown. "What is that thing doing here? You know how, I feel about those?"

"That thing's name is Zeke, and he is like the nicest guy." Chase defended her boyfriend, and Zeke couldn't help but smile proudly of that action. Oh, how he loved her. Chase stepped out of touching distance from her dad to be on the safe side, and then she continued talking. "Not only that, daddy, but he's been the guy for me for quite some time now, we're talking months."

Steven picked up the remote control from the coffeetable, and turned off the tv. He turned the chair to face his daughter and the black man in the background, clearly not happy with his daughter's statement. "By that, I sure hope you mean, that your teacher forced you to work together on a project, and if you refused, you'd fail?" He questioned Chase, and she knew, that it was what he wanted to hear her say next, but she refused to lie, and she didn't reply right away, so it angered him. "Chase Annabelle Feller, tell me, that's what you meant!"

"No, daddy! That's not what I meant. I'm in a relationship with him, and I love him very much." Chase explained to him, and that didn't make him any happier. Hadn't he been perfectly clear with her, that she wasn't allowed to date, and she wasn't allowed to have any interaction with black people in any kind of way.

"Excuse me, sir?" Zeke butted in, which was very brave of him, and he feared it might be the last thing, he ever did, but he had to do it. Steven sent him a hard glare, and Zeke swallowed a lump, he was scared out of his mind, but this was it. "I know, what you must think of me, and I can understand, why you feel, you must be overprotective of Chase, but the fact is, I love her as much as she loves me, and that's really all that matters."

"Zeke, was it?" Steven Feller asked after a long pause, clearly not impressed by Zeke's speech. He stood up from his chair in the corner, and took a few steps towards Zeke, suddenly becoming a lot taller and more intimidating. "I don't like you, and I don't want you near my daughter, am I making myself clear?"

"Perfectly, sir, but unfortunately for you, I disagree. I'm gonna continue to see her, because I love her." Zeke said, and was surprised by himself. He didn't know, how all of the sudden he was that brave, but he was, and he said it straight to his girlfriend's father's face, without backing away. "I know, you don't like me, because I'm dating your daughter, and because I'm black, but that's just too bad. Like I said, I love her."

"Have you ever been to court?" Steven questioned, an icey expression upon his face. Zeke was taken aback by the sudden change of topic, but was careful not to show. "Let's look at this from that kind of view. I'm both a lawyer, the judge and the jury, so to sum it up; this is a case, that you cannot win."

"This is not a case, he needs to win, daddy." Chase interjected from where, she was standing, and Zeke was glad, she decided to speak up. He couldn't handle mr. Feller on his own. "Look, I didn't bring him here for your approval or anything, I didn't bring him here, because I hoped you would like him. I brought him here, because I was tired of keeping him a secret, and I've seen what secrets can do." Chase walked over to her boyfriend, and he put an arm around her waist. "I'm gonna date him no matter what, and you can either like it or leave it."

It led on to be a long conversation/discussion/fight, neither would back down, and a lot of horrible things were said, so Chase and Zeke arrived late at school that day, and Zeke was terrified out of his mind. Never in his life had he met a man like that.

**IRBS**

Sharpay stood outside the doors of East High, for once alone after her break-up with Troy. Chase wasn't there, and neither was Liz. Gabriella wasn't there either, she was there on her own. It felt kinda weird, since it had been like, she'd been man-to-man guarded. Now, nothing.

Liz was off with Gabriella somewhere, and Sharpay was glad, that they hit it off so well. It was a little strange, though, seeing as they were so different. Liz was this spacey, all-over-the-place, happy girl, where Gabriella was more together, smart and generally in a calm mood. But when you mesh well, you mesh well.

Chase was off God knows where with Zeke, and that was no surprise, because even since they'd gotten together, it was like they'd been glued together by the hip. Not that Sharpay minded, she was glad, that her friend was happy.

But Sharpay was pleased with the situation, that all of her friends weren't there at that point, because what she had to do that day, she had to do it by herself. If her friends were there, she knew they'd form her opinion, and that shouldn't happen, because she was after all reinventing herself.

She knew, where she was starting, Gabriella had helped her with that. She was starting by admitting to herself, that she had her handicap, and there was nothing, she could do about, so she had to accept it and deal with it, and she felt that the best way to do that, was to admit it to others, that was it would become more real, and she wouldn't be able to deny it.

Her first stop was this guy, who happened to hate her very much, who also happened to be the father of her ex-boyfriend. Jack Bolton, he wasn't important to her in any way, but she felt that he had to know. He had been one to missunderstand her, because he didn't know, what the hell was going on, and he deserved to get the record straight, no matter how she felt about the guy.

The bells rang 5 minutes ago, so when Sharpay finally got the courage to step inside, the hallways were pretty much empty, and the only sound was silence. Sharpay liked the school like that, when she was alone in the halls, with all the other students there, it was too much chaos for her. This was the way it should be, silent and no rude comments about her.

She walked with determined steps towards the place, she was certain Jack Bolton would be. The gym, basketball practise. Troy and Chad would be there too, she was sure, and it would take a lot from her to walk in there, acting confident and demand to speak with Jack in private, but she could do it, if she just kept saying it to herself. You can do it, you can do it, you can do it.

It seemed like a long walk, because she was so damn nervous, but all it was, was a few left turns and one right, and there they were; the big double-doors to the gym, and she could hear the basketballs pounding to the floor on the other side, and the sound of the shoes shrieking, when they hit the floor right, and every now and then Jack yelling 'c'mon guys, getcha head in the game!'

How she understood to pick the right moments, when the gym was full of tall, sweaty basketball dudes. What were they even doing practising now, when it was during school hours? Then again, what did she know? She just wished, she didn't have to be brave like that yet, it was a great deal to her.

She gently knocked on the door and listened; basketballs pounding, shrieking shoes and Jack's yell. Her knock hadn't been heard, but had she really expected any differently? They were so into, whatever Jack had them doing, that they blocked all other noises out.

Sharpay admired, how dedicated they all were to their sport, but at the same time she didn't get how. She could never devote herself to a sport like that, but she understood, that Troy loved it, that Zeke loved it, that Chad loved it, and that Jack loved it, and she could also understand, why Jack disliked her so. It wasn't entirely Chad's fault, she had dragged Troy away from basketball after all.

She opened the door, which made a whining sound, and then she peaked inside. She saw, that the coach was still very much into the whole 'fake right, break left' thing, and she had to giggle, because even though she didn't know much about sports, she did know that, that routine was so old school.

Zeke was absent, Sharpay noticed, and she had been right, when she guessed, he and Chase were off somewhere together. But Troy was there, so was Chad, though neither of them noticed her there, they were busy faking right and all that jazz, producing their body weight in sweat. Disgusting.

Sharpay scrunched her nose at horrible smell of sweat, and then she proceeded her walk towards their coach, Jack Bolton. She crossed the floor, on which they were practising, and surprised by herself she didn't care, it was the closest way to get to Jack, so that's the way she went. It was actually first then, they all noticed her, and Jack watched her grumpily, as she got closer and closer.

All the guys on the team picked up their balls, and Sharpay was glad. The noises had been on the verge of being too much, the balls and the shoes, it was like it had been trying to rip her head apart, she couldn't take so many noises at the same time, and she couldn't just ignore them like most people.

Finally, she reached the coach, after what seemed like the longest walk in history. They were all thinking theirs of her, but she tried not to think about it, she was the simply to talk to Jack, but still she could feel everybody's eyes on her. Troy was probably concerned, that she was there to cause a scene, and Chad was possitively rolling his eyes at her, but she tried not to care.

"Coach, I have to speak to you." Sharpay said, once she stood before Jack, who looked like he had no intentions of ever having a conversation with her, and Sharpay felt, that if someone didn't say something soon, she break down, so she added a; "Please?"

"I don't know, if you've noticed, miss Evans, but I'm the middle of coaching my team." Jack informed her in such a formal way, that it made her wanna gag, but she contained herself, and he swung a hand out at all the guys on the team to illustrate his point or something. "I don't have the time to speak with you."

"It's taken a lot for me to come here and talk to you, and I'm even using uncomfortable words for me, like 'please'. Are you saying, there's no way you'll talk to me?" Sharpay questioned him, and he folded his arms, nodding his head. She looked away from him, upset that she'd looked away from her limits to go there to fail, and then she accidently locked eyes with Troy, who wouldn't admit concern, and she immediately turned her head way, because love was pain, but she'd gotten an idea. "C'mon, coach Bolton! You have an awesome team on your hands, who can clearly handle themselves in the short amount of time, that our conversation will take, plus we can just go to the bleachers and talk, so you can still keep an eye on them."

"I don't know, I don't..." Jack trailed off, he was on the fence about this, and then he glanced at his team, who was nodding at him to go for it, that it was okay, mostly because Sharpay had called them an awesome team, and then he made up his mind. "Okay, let's go over to the bleachers then. Boys, carry on what you were doing, it looks good."

The team began practise again, faking right, going left, one on one and all that, as Jack and Sharpay walked over to the bleachers and sat down, a gap between them. Jack waited for Sharpay to lead off the conversation, because he didn't know, what it should be about. Sharpay watched the boys practise a little, before she finally turned her head to Jack.

"I know, you don't like me." Sharpay revealed, and Jack was surprised, because he'd had expected the conversation to be about something else, he had expected her to accuse him of hers and Troy's break-up, but that she didn't, made him respect her a little bit. "And I also think I know, why you don't like me. There's something different about me, something that you can't quite put your finger on, and for some reason that makes you dislike me. You can keep hiding behind that basketball story, if that's what you want, but we both know, that's not it."

"You think, you've got me all figured out, don't you?" Jack questioned, folding his arms once more, lifting an eyebrow in a suspicious manner, and Sharpay lifted hers, as if to say 'you think I don't?', and he had to admit it. "Okay, so you do, but you understand it now, don't you? I know, I've acted childish, but I just didn't know, still don't."

"I have this handicap called Asperger's Syndrome, which is basically a handicap, that you can't see." Sharpay explained to him, so now he knew the reason to why, she was so different from other's, but he still didn't understand it. "I would explain it better, if I could, but I'm first starting to figure it out myself. All I know, that it's something I'm born with, and it difficults a lot of things, and some things I know practically all about. It's like that, when you have my disability, you have your things, but I'm yet to discover my things."

"O-okay." Jack managed to get out, he didn't know, what to do with this peace of information, but now he felt extremely bad for going up against her, the way he had done it. Had he known, he never would have, how bad mustn't he have made her feel?

"Because of my handicap, physical activities, like gym, are hard. I can't play basketball, for example, it's just too damn hard. I can't, because there are too many things, there has to be done at the same time." Sharpay explained further, and was surprised at how easy it was to actually talk to her ex-boyfriend's father, they had just gotten off on the wrong foot, it seemed. "You have to throw the ball, do the wrist thing, jump and hit the basket, it's just too many things going on in my head at once, I can't do them all at the same time. I realize, that must have frustrated you, but I couldn't exactly shout to you 'I have an unvisible handicap'."

"I feel so bad now that I know, Sharpay, I shouldn't have been on your case like that then, when it's because of your handicap, and that you can't manage it in your head." Jack said, genuinely feeling bad. He watched his boys practise, and his eyes fell upon Troy, and he couldn't help but wonder, had he known about his girlfriend's disability? "Uhm, Troy... did he know? Was that why you broke up?"

"Yes, and kind of." Sharpay admitted, watching Troy as well, who was passing the ball to Chad, trying with all his might to ignore her, and so did Chad. She looked back at Jack to explain things. "Troy knew, before we even went out, and he accepted me with it, but we broke up, because I'm too insecure in a way. See, I have a huge problem with my handicap, I don't want it, I think it's unfair, that I have it, and I've always tried to distance myself from it, and felt that why should anybody anything related with me, because I'm such a freak, and finally Troy had enough. He wants me to realize I'm special, and he doesn't want to deal with this anymore for the both of us."

A silence fell upon them, the ball was still in Sharpay's court, but she needed a bit of a breaking from explaining things, before she went at it again. It was hard telling Jack these things, but overall she did feel pretty good about it, because at the same time it was easy. She inhaled and exhaled, preparing herself for round two.

During their silence, they watched the boys pass the ball back and forth, faking right, going left; the whole oldfashioned routine. Sharpay's eyes landed on Chad, he was next on her list, and she watched his footwork, and was pretty impressed by it being so fast. His curls were bouncing up and down, and Sharpay had to supress a giggle, when she spotted the part, that had been under Liz's care, and it looked hilarious.

She turned her head back to Jack once again and spoke; "I don't like big crowds either, they make me uncomfortable, and that's why I ditch most of my classes. I don't like speaking to people, I don't know, and I've distanced myself from my classmates, so they wouldn't get the sense, something was up, and that's how I became the ice queen. But now I'm trying to come to terms with this thing, and that's why I'm here now."

"I can't even imagine, what you must have been going through." Jack said, reaching out his hand to touch Sharpay's to let her know, he felt with her situation, but she pulled it away from him. He tried to act like, it didn't matter. "B-but... your family, you must have support from them, right? I mean, if someone from my family was going through, what you were going through, I'd be for them every step of the way."

"I don't have the support of my family, they don't even know, I know!" Sharpay revealed, and looked down upon her hand, that she had just moved away from Jack. Some time she'd explain the deal with that, but right now she was reminded by her family situation, and she hated it. "They found out, when I was 13, but chose not to tell me. I always came home crying, that I was different from everybody else, and I came to a bunch of tests, and they found out what was wrong with me, and they chose not to tell me, because they feared my reaction. Ryan told me, he didn't agree with my parents, he thought I deserved to know." She paused, and took in a deep breath, and then she did something, that wasn't her place to tell, but Jack deserved to know it. "Your stepfather, by the way, has it. Your mother revealed that to me at the family dinner, I attented. And I think, he or she can give you a much more detailed explanation of all of this."

"Okay, I think I have to have chat with my mom now, and with my stepdad of course, find out what's the deal." Jack decided, because like Sharpay had said, she'd spend her time distancing herself from it, so she didn't know anything about it, that would make him understand it better, and she was only now coming to terms with it. He found it sad, that her parents had made her go to a place like East High, where she obviously didn't belong, and they had been lying to her, but wasn't she doing the same to them. "Don't you think, you should tell your parents, that you are aware of the situation."

"I'm going to tell them today." Sharpay said, her eyes falling upon Chad again, he was next. Before her parents, before anything else, he was next. "But before I'm going to do that, I have to tell Chad about it all. I've hurt him so much because of it, causing him to hurt Liz, Troy and myself, so he needs to know, why I was so mean to him back in the days. I hope it's okay, I drag him out of here, now that we're practically done?"

Jack nodded his head, and Sharpay stood up from the bleachers and made her way towards Chad, just as he'd passed the ball to one of his team mates, and when she stood before him, he stared at her with a hateful look in his eyes, as if he wanted to say 'what the hell do you want'?

"What the hell do you want?" Chad burst out, though he hadn't needed to. Sharpay had gotten it all from his eyes, but any chance to upset her, he grabbed with both hands, so he wouldn't lose it. "Can't you see I'm busy? I don't have time for a trip to Iceland."

Sharpay reached out her hand, and slapped the back of his head hard, because with that big afro of his, she had to so he'd be able to feel it, and he deserved the pain. Liz was in pan because of him, so he deserved some of that pain, but her point of being there wasn't to cause him pain, but to talk to.

Chad was about to open his big mouth and say something, but Sharpay surprised him by grabbing his shirt and dragging him out of there. He was too stunned to speak by that action, he hadn't suspected, Sharpay would ever do a thing like that, she had never had those kinds of guts.

She dragged him through the gym doors out into the hallway, down the hallway to her left, opening the door into the auditorium, pulling him inside with her. It appeared completely empty, and they were both thankful for that for two very different reasons.

Sharpay was thankful, because she needed to have this conversation with Chad in private, and this was the only place, she could think of going with him. Had the auditorium been occupied, she wouldn't have known, where to go, and she'd somehow always felt safe there.

Chad was thankful, because he wouldn't be caught dead with the ice queen. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he still loved her and missed her, though the image he'd made for himself said otherwise, according to that he was supposed to hate her. He sort of did, kind of, but mostly he was just hurt, that Sharpay had ditched him like that all those years ago, and he was holding the grudge. He still did miss her, but was he caught alone with her, it would ruin his image and print him out as a liar.

Sharpay shoved Chad into one of the theater chairs, and then sat down in the one next to him. She didn't face him at first, but faced the stage. "Do you still dream of being an actor?" She wondered out loud, making small talk at first, hoping she would get to the point somewhere along the road. "I remember you did, once upon a time. Scooby Doo was your favorite movie, and Shaggy was your favorite character."

"Oh yeah, and my first big part will be a basketball player, and I'll make all the stunts myself." Chad smiled at the memory, and he couldn't believe, Sharpay remembered. The first time he watched it, his favorite movie, he watched it with her, his then best friend. "But why did you drag me all the way to the auditorium, Sharpay? I was in the middle of basketball practise, and I'm sure coach Bolton will have a cow."

Sharpay finally turned her head and made eye-contact with him. "Don't worry, I talked with him about that, it's alright. You're excused." She explained to him, and then she dug her hand into her bag, and fished out an orange book, and then she flipped it, so Chad could have a look at the cover. "I wanted to talk to you about this, and why I hurt you back when."

Chad studied the cover of the book, it 'Asperger's Syndrome, So What?', and wondered what it was. He snatched the book from Sharpay's hand, opened it and buried himself in it, without asking if it was okay, but Sharpay didn't mind. This way she didn't have to explain anything, he'd find out himself, which was good, as she hated explaining this to people.

It was an easy reading book, and it was easy to understand, Ryan had told her, and so had Troy, but she had never read it herself, though from her brother's point of view, she reckoned he'd be done reading it soon. Then again, Chad had always been a slow reader, so it might take him a little while, but she was gonna let him have it.

After 15 minutes he closed the book, he'd read the whole thing, and he'd figured it out. "You have this thing, don't you?" He questioned, as he handed the book back to Sharpay, and she accepted it, nodding her head yes, and then she put the book back in her bag. "Why have you never told me this, that you have 'Asperger's Syndrome' or whatever the hell it's called? We were best friends for so long, and you never told me."

"I didn't know, untill I was 13, Chad, so I couldn't have told you before." Sharpay tried to explain, but by the look on Chad's face, it appeared it didn't make him feel any better, because she could have told him, when she found out then. "I probably should have told you, when I'd found out, but I couldn't get myself to do it."

"Why couldn't you tell me?" Chad wanted to know, he got up from the seat, Sharpay forced him into, and started walking back and forth, trying to figure it out, as Sharpay just watched him go. "We told each other everything, so why? What? Had I all of the sudden become horrible to talk to? What?"

Sharpay hated this, she could hear how bad, she'd made him feel, and it hurt her so bad, that she started to cry. "I wanted to tell you, I did, but I feared you wouldn't want to be my friend then." She spoke with such a fragile voice, and the sadness in it made Chad feel even worse, and what she told him now terrible, but he had to know it. "I was afraid, you'd dump me as soon as you found out, so I decided to ditch you, before you ditched me and save myself the hurt."

"Nice to know, you gave me that much credit!?" Chad exclaimed, offended that she'd ever thought that poorly of him. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her, it would have never been like that, if she'd told him, he would have been there, he was sure. "Don't you think, I would have acted like your best friend and been there for you? I would have, y'know, but I'm sorry you felt that way." They shared a smile, as a silence fell upon them, a comfortable one, and it felt nice, like when they used to be friends. "I'm also sorry for the things I put you threw, had I known the reason behind your action, I wouldn't have hold the grudge like that. I wish, I'd known, then I wouldn't have hurt Liz either."

"You really love her, don't you?" Sharpay wondered, and Chad nodded his head, his big curly afro doing a funny little dance, and she offered him a sympathetic smile. Her now best friend and her then best friend loved each other, and if her and Chad came out of this as friends, she'd try to get them together on the right terms. "She loves you too, y'know, but she's very sad, and not feeling like herself at all."

"You've always been great at analyzing people, Sharpay, but you've never liked being analyzed yourself." Chad acknowledged with sort of a 'proud daddy' smile, and Sharpay nodded her head. He was right, and they both had a feeling, it had everything to do with her handicap. "But I was just wondering, Sharpay, what are you doing here then? Here being East High?"

"It's all part of my plan, Chad. My parents don't know, that I know about this, because they chose to keep it a secret from me. Now it's time to tell them, so I can go to a place, where they can give me the right 'education'." Sharpay exclaimed, using airquotes to the word education, because she actually meant help, but she hated that word, it implied weakness, so she chose not to use it. "I'm just not feeling it, I don't wanna do it alone. I can't ask Chase to help me, she's busy with Zeke, and Troy is off the table, as we're broken up, and Liz isn't good in these situation."

"You must tell me about yours and Troy's break-up someday, I hope it's not entirely my fault." Chad said, and looked down upon his feet. Sharpay raised herself up from her chair, walked over to Chad and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which took a lot of personal strength. He looked back up, regaining eyecontact with Sharpay, smiling because the hand told him, it wasn't entirely his fault. "I could help you with your parents, I'd love to be there for you."

"That sounds good, I'd really like that. Does that mean we're friends again?" Sharpay asked with a bright smile on her face, and Chad enthusiastically nodded his head. A silence fell upon the new old friends, but it didn't take long, before Sharpay decided to break it. "Hey, Chad? What are you thinking about right now."

Chad smirked, he felt he still knew his best friend, yes he called her that, so he had to say it; "I was just thinking about, how long it's been, since I last gave my best friend Shaggy a piggyback ride." Chad turned his back to Sharpay, indicating that he wanted to give her a piggyback ride right then and there. "Hop on, Shaggy."

Sharpay grinned, as she did what she was told, and hopped on Chad's back. He grabbed a hold of her legs, so she wouldn't fall down, and she held her arms around his neck, without strangling him. She didn't know, where he'd bring her to, and she didn't care, because even though it had been a long time, she somehow already trusted him again, and while he ran around with her on his back, they had time to catch up. They had a lot to tell each other.

**IRBS**

Troy stepped out of the gym, when practise was over, and he had showered himself nice and clean. Some guys on the team didn't shower, and that was probably why a lot of people thought, that they were all gross and sweaty, but Troy always showered. You never knew, what would happen during a day, so you always had to smell your best, he felt.

He threw his gym bag with his used clothes over his shoulder, and slowly made his way towards his locker, while wondering what Sharpay's conversation with his dad had been about, and why his dad hadn't been in the worst of moods, once she had left with Chad, and for that matter what was she doing with Chad? After what that guy had pulled on them, was she nuts?

It wasn't his decision to make, he knew that, he wasn't the boss of her, and he certainly couldn't advice her in anything. He had lost that right, when he dumped her at Chad's party, but he still had his right to think, that whatever it was, that she was up to was insanely stupid. If he could stop her, he would, and he would tell her not to get involved with Chad.

He reached his locker, that wasn't very far from the gym, and typed in his combination. He heard that familiar click, and then he opened it and threw in the bag. He slammed his locker door shut, and leaned up against it, tilting his head back and closing his eyes, trying to relax a bit after practise, before the next class, but when he was starting to relax a little, he heard two familiar voices coming near him, and neither of them sounded happy.

"I told you, it was a bad idea. I told you, but somehow you managed to convince me to be stupid and go through with it." He heard one of the voices yell, and he opened his eyes, and damn right it was Zeke, walking along side his girlfriend, both looking equally annoyed with something. "What did I get out of it? Your old man succeeded in questioning every single aspect of me. He sounded like, we were getting married tomorrow, and I wouldn't be able to support you with my 'baker' carreer."

"That's not what he sounded like!" Chase objected, as they stopped up in the middle of the hallway to continue their argument, and Troy walked up next to them, watching and listening from the sidelines, hoping that they'd sooner or later calm down and notice him. "I don't even know, what you're bickering about. It's over, and you survived. You live to tell about it, not many people are able to say that, Zeke."

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to share that with everybody." Zeke replied, sarcastically, and Chase was not amused. She folded her arms across her chest, and eyed Zeke in a way, that Troy would've been scared to be him right now. "Sometimes I don't get you, Chase! You complain about your father all the time, yet here you are defending him. What's up with that?"

"So what, I can't defend my dad, because I find him unreasonable sometimes?" Chase questioned, making a valid point, but Zeke didn't think so. He found it too double standard, and Chase disagreed. "Okay, sometimes I really, really hate him, and sometimes he feel like he's suffocating me with his rules and all, but I still love him. He's harsh, I know, and the things he said to you were unfair, but he just wants to protect me."

"But you don't need protection, and when he told you, you couldn't date me, that wasn't protection. He's a mean man." Zeke argued, and Chase let her arms fall to her side with an annoyed groan, she was getting fed up with this argument. "Yeah, ugh! But you know that, still now you're arguing with me, like what your dad's doing is okay, and it's not. You can't both hate him and stand up for him."

"Are you calling me two-faced, or what is it?" Chase demanded to know, and Zeke shrugged in a provoking way, making Chase fume even more than she was before. "Okay, fine then. Let me ask you a question; don't you hate your dad, when he says, that being a baker is no carreer for his son? I mean, that's your dream, isn't it?" Zeke nodded, not knowing where Chase was going with this, and she continued; "Yet no matter how much you dislike him, when he says that, you still love him, because he's your dad. Am I right?"

They all knew, Chase had won that argument. She always won, and Troy wondered why, Zeke hadn't grown tired of that yet, being in a relationship where you never won a single argument, that must be tiring. Zeke's expression softened, and Troy saw the love he had for Chase, and caught himself feeling jealous of the love, they still shared.

Zeke was about to open his mouth and say something, when they heard some noises coming from another hallway. They heard squealing and two familiar voices coming their way, and they all turned their head in the direction of the noise, and saw Sharpay getting a piggyback ride from... Chad? What?

"Chad, slow down. You're going too fast!"

"No can do, Shaggy. We've got a mystery to solve!"

Then they raced around the corner so fast, they almost created a mist behind them, and Troy watched the spot, where they'd disappeared, solemnly. She was happy without him, it seemed, and it hit him so hard. He had thought, if he said enough, she'd wake up and get her act together, but now it seemed, she didn't need him at all. Joke was on him.

"I.. what?" Troy managed to get out, and then his friends finally noticed him, being ripped out of their trance of seeing Chad and Sharpay together. Chase rushed to Troy's side, and put a comforting arm around him, whereas Zeke just patted him on the back, to let him know he was there. "I... she... and he... and I thought..."

"It's probably nothing. I mean, they used to be friends." Chase tried to comfort him, implying that maybe they were friends again, but it didn't seem to sink in on him. He didn't want to believe it, because after everything they'd been through, and after everything the two of them had said of bad things about each other, it just didn't seem right.

"Yeah, they _used_ to be friends." Troy said, still watching the same spot as before. He couldn't figure it out, and it annoyed him to no end, and it made him miss Sharpay even more, even if he'd made the right call. "Used to be being it. They shouldn't be friends anymore, they both hated each. I don't know why, because Sharpay was never completely honest with me, she never told me."

"Maybe that's the problem?" Chase tried again, and Troy shot her an annoyed look, and forcefully shoved her arm off of his shoulder. Again with the mothering, wouldn't she just stop? "Chad knows more about Sharpay, than you do, and you hate that, because you thought, you knew everything?"

"Why are you always like this?" Troy questioned, raising his voice at a stunned Chase. She thought, he was over those kind of outbursts, but clearly not. He was so fed up with her 'being there' for everybody, mothering them. He didn't need her. "I don't need you, so why don't you just get lost?"

"Troy!!" Zeke exclaimed, using an 'I warn you' kind of tone, as he rushed to his girlfriend's side, who was clearly upset, giving her a warm, comforting hug. Argument in the past, he was now defending his beloved girlfriend. "She was just trying to help, why you gotta be like that?"

Troy groaned with much annoyance, and then he spun around, and fled the scenery, just as Gabriella and Liz arrived to the spot, arms linked, wrapped up in some fun, comfy convo, but when they saw Troy running off the way he did, they stopped up and looked at the only happy couple left in their group, confused about it all.

"What's up with Speedy Gonzalez?" Gabriella wanted to know, refering to Troy. These days he'd been overly sensitive, and she really wanted to know, what it was now. Who had said something, what had happened? At the same time she didn't wanna worry, she didn't want to break her own happiness in her newfound friendship with Liz with that.

"Yeah, he was like WOOOSH!" Liz chipped in, once again failing to be serious and grasping the situation, now that she had somewhat healed from the loss of Chad. Her shining eyes and all were back, and they loved that about her, but right now it wasn't needed.

Chase didn't reply, she just huffed, escaping Zeke's comforting arms and running off in a different direction than Troy. Zeke looked at the two shorties, the latina and the partly blonde, with apologetic eyes, he shrugged, and then he wandered off in the same direction, that his girlfriend had went.

Gabriella and Liz looked at each other, both thinking the same thing, and then they both smiled their bright smiles, not worrying, and said in unison; "They were like WOOOSH!"

**IRBS**

The bell rang for the last time that day, and Chad and Sharpay hurried out of there, as fast as they could. They had things to do, Sharpay had to tell her parents she knew, and Chad had promised to support her, and Sharpay wanted to get it over with right away, and that's why they were in such a rush.

They brushed past Troy in the hallway, who was totally out of himself, seeing them together. That two-faced discussion Zeke and Chase had earlier, it seemed a perfect fit for Sharpay, who was saying one thing and doing the other. She was supposed to hate Chad, she was supposed to cry about him in bathroom, and now all of the sudden they were good? He didn't even know, what had gotten between them, that had made them so mad at each other, and Sharpay had never wanted to tell him.

Chad pushed the door open for Sharpay, holding it as well, grabbing his chance to be the perfect gentleman. He wanted to treat his friend right, now that he had found out, what had come between them back them. He had been so set on her being this icy, heartless bitch, that he couldn't get his mind around, that there might have been a reason, and he had wanted to get back at her so bad. Now he knew, what the real reason was, and the grudge he had seemed so dumb now.

It was all in the past now, Sharpay seemed to have let it all go, like it had never happened, so that's why he did the same. That's why they were able to laugh together, like when they were two 13 year old kids, when she was his Shaggy, and he was her chocolate poodle. They were still that to each other, because in the years they hadn't been friends, Chad could honestly say, that Sharpay hadn't changed that much, and he loved that about her. She was special, then and now.

Suddenly they stood in the parking lot, Chad had been so wrapped up in his thoughts, that he hadn't even realized, he'd been walking towards his car with Sharpay. She stopped, and so did he and saw, that she had weird look upon her face, and he eyed in a way, like he was asking her 'what' with his eyes, and she rolled her eyes in a way, like he would know.

"Well, you weren't driving, when you were 13!" Sharpay exclaimed, using a du'h tone, throwing an arm gesture in the way of all the cars in the parking lot, asking a silent question with it, and then putting words to it; "Which car is yours, Chocolate Poodle?"

"Oh!" Chad uttered, as realization dawned on him. He should have thought of that, they hadn't been friends, since they were 13, so of course she wouldn't know, what the hell his car looked like. "It's the blue one in the far end, with a basketball in the backseat." He paused, when he saw Sharpay crossing her arms, and lifting an eyebrow at him. He sighed and added; "Fine, and a Scooby Doo dvd. What do you want from me?"

"That! And maybe if you could park in _this_ end the next time, then that would be perfectly swell." Sharpay said in a teasing manner, and Chad stuck out his tongue at her, and they started walking towards the other end. "Look at this, I'm already exhausted, and we've only started walking, and the far end is still very far away, I can't even see your car yet."

"Bravo. You are quite the complainer." Chad said, while he faked admiring that quality about her, as they walked past Mr. Paperblock, and little while later they walked past Troy's car. Sharpay looked away from it, feeling a sting, and Chad noticed it. "You're gonna get him back, trust me. When you're done 'reinventing' yourself, and you admit to him you're special, he'll be taking you back in no time. And maybe if you next time are a little more honest with him, then..."

"Hey, mister!" Sharpay yelled, cutting him off in the middle of his sentence, while grabbing a hold of his arm, stopping them both right in the centre of the parking lot. "It's not like you jumped up and down with eager to tell Troy about our past. That we were friends, and why we stopped being that, but I couldn't, okay? And you would have hated me even more, if I had, and you would have totally denied it."

"I told Gabriella, didn't I?" Chad questioned, crossing his arms, a look upon his face, that clearly stated he thought, Sharpay was way off with her accusation. "You told no one. Not a soul, not even Chase or Liz, but I had the guts to tell someone!"

"It has nothing to do with guts, Chad." Sharpay said, reaching out her hand to yank his arms apart, she found it ridiculously girly, when a guy crossed his arms like that, and with Chad she had the nerves to yank them apart. "You told Gabriella, because you knew, it wouldn't come back to bite you in the ass then. Or well, it did, but not in the way you were originally afraid of. You didn't want to ruin your rep, and by telling Gabriella you had no fear of that." She paused and curtseyed for him, as if to say 'end of discussion'. "How do you like me now?"

Chad sighed in defeat, clearly Sharpay had won that one. He hated, when she won. He hated, when anybody won. "Fine, so maybe you're a little right, but still I did tell someone, which you haven't." He sighed again, and Sharpay offered him a smile, mostly because he admitted she was right, and then they proceeded walking towards his car. "So, have you worked out, what you're gonna say to your parents?"

"Not really." Sharpay admitted, placing her hands in her pockets. It had been a very hard day for her, but she had gotten through it, and she still dreaded talking to her parents about it, though she knew she had to, no matter how hard it would be. Oh, she hoped it would be easy. "I kinda hope it'll be enough to say 'I know', you know?"

"Probably not, but I'll be there." Chad assured her, as they reached his car. He went over and opened the door to the passenger seat, allowing Sharpay to get in, and she smiled appreciatively at him. "If you compliment your mom, and batter your eyes at your stepdad, they'll be buttered up and much more approachable."

"I'll consider that." Sharpay grinned, and then Chad closed the door to her side. He walked over to the driver's side, and opened the door, he got into the car and bopped his head, causing Sharpay to let out a giggle. "Way to elegantly get into your own car. Say, is this your first time driving?"

Chad made a mocking face at her, as he closed the door and buckled his seatbelt. Sharpay couldn't help but laugh at him, so with a grumpy looking face, he turned on the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot, and drove off towards Sharpay's place, which he perfectly well knew where was.

**IRBS**

Chad pulled up into the driveway of Sharpay's house, while he laughed at something she said. Everything they'd said to each other on the ride to her house had been pretty much serious, untill Sharpay found it all too depressing and tried to lighten the mood with one of her funny rambling sessions. It went right home with Chad, they always killed him.

He turned the engine off and faced Sharpay with a smile upon his face, so thankful they were friends again. "It's now or never, Shaggy." He announced to her, as she unbuckled her seatbelt, and he unbuckled his. "Before we go in there, I just wanna say one thing; you shouldn't be so afraid to embrace your handicap and be yourself. I loved the Shaggy, you used to be, before you found out about it. If you let it become a part of you, you could be that same person again."

Sharpay sighed, she knew all of this, and she was really trying, but it was difficult. "I know, but I've spent practically all my time distancing myself from it, and trying to figure out another reason for why, I am the way I am, but it's quite obvious that there is only one reason." Sharpay said with a sad smile, while fidgetting with her hands. Intense one-on-one conversations like that had always made her uncomfortable, and when she was uncomfortable, she fidgetted. "I'm slowly learning to accept it, and it's a lot easier now, that I have actual friends. I didn't think, I'd be able to with my disability, but obviously I am. It's just a lot harder for me to make friends, than it is for regular people."

"Hey, I'm a regular 'people', and it's not that easy for me to make friends either." Chad said, lifting up his arms and heaving them down in an 'exhibit A' kind of way, as he sent a teasing smile her way, and she stuck her tongue out of. That guy couldn't stay serious for long, but that's what she used to love about him, still did.

"Yeah, maybe so, but you're forgetting one thing!" Sharpay revealed with a smirk, and Chad raised his brows in a 'please do tell me' way, and she stuck out her tongue once more, before continuing. "You are an ass."

"Hitting me where it hurts!" Chad exclaimed with much exaggeration, placing both his hands over his heart, faking to be in serious pain. Sharpay rolled her eyes at him, and gave him a playful shove, pushing him back into being serious. "No, seriously. Shaggy, are you ready to rumble?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, Chocolate Poodle." Sharpay admitted, and almost in unison they both pulled down the handle in their respective sides, opening the doors, both stepping one foot out of the car and then the next, slamming the doors behind them, Chad locking the car. Sharpay tried to muster a smile and be brave, and Chad offered a reassuring one. "Here goes nothing! Sure hope they haven't got a hold of my reportcard yet, otherwise I'm toast before I even open my mouth. My highest grade is a C+, they won't be pleased."

"Shag!" Chad said, with a hint of a blaming undertone, nothing obvious. He had always found her unbelievable sometimes, but they meshed well together, and he had always loved the way she rolled. "You just don't know how to stay on one subject, do you?"

"You know, how I do." Sharpay giggled, as she popped the strop on her top, cos she didn't have a collar. Chad laughed, as they walked up the steps to her house together. Sharpay stopped in front of the door, taking in a deep breath, preparing herself. She turned to Chad. "My mom is gonna get the biggest shock, when she sees you with me. She hasn't seen you in like 4 years, it's insane."

"Yeah, but I haven't changed much." Chad agreed, looking down upon himself. He pretty much looked the same; same hairstyle, same types of clothes, same just about everything. Mrs Evans would definitely be able to recognize him, he reckoned. "Though I've gotten taller, and my 'fro has gotten bigger, even after hair styling curtisies of a certain Liz Kincaid."

"Yeah, she shouldn't go after that carreer." Sharpay giggled, and Chad joined in with a chuckle, and then they both turned serious. Sharpay placed her hand on the doorknob, and then she looked into Chad's eyes, before she could go through with it. "Here goes nothing!"

Sharpay pushed down the knob, and the door opened with a homey creak. Why did all doors creak? She stepped inside and stopped in the hallway, holding the door open for Chad, who also stepped inside. He looked around for a bit, as it had been forever since he'd last been there, but just like him the Evans' foyer, as Mrs Evans adressed it, hadn't changed either.

"MOM, I'M HOME!" Sharpay yelled in a way, that would have made Fred Flintstone very proud, and Chad made frightened little jump, causing Sharpay to giggle at the comic of it. Chad shot her an offended look, though he didn't mean it, and she once again stuck out her tongue at him.

"In here, baby Shar." Mrs Evans shouted from another room, and Sharpay started walking towards it, and Chad followed in her steps. Sharpay stepped into the kitchen with Chad, and saw Mrs Evans sitting by the kitchen table with some papers in her hand, she looked up from them and smiled at Chad and Sharpay. "Hi Sharpay. Hi Chad, it's been a long time, it's so nice to see you again. How was your day?"

"Fair!" Sharpay replied, short and precise. She sat down at the kitchen table, opposite from her mom, and Chad sat down next to Sharpay, as he had promised to support her. "But there is something I need to talk to you about, and it's important." Sharpay's mom smiled, and went back to her paperwork, because she was one of those 'I can listen and do other things at the same time' kind of moms, but this time Sharpay needed her full of attention. "Mom, you need to put down your paperwork for this. It's really, really important."

Mrs Evans looked at her daughter, and saw the look upon her face, and she laid down the papers in her hand on the kitchen table. "Okay, sweetie. Tell me what's up?" She questioned her daughter, folding her hands, putting them on the table, paying full attention to her beautiful daughter. She looked from Sharpay to Chad and back, and then she uttered the fear of all parents. "You're not pregnant, are you, Shar?"

"No! God, mom!" Sharpay shrieked, embarrassed with Chad right next to her. Why did her mom think like that of her, when Sharpay was scared even by the thought of kissing, even if she'd done it before, she was still terrified. "No, it's something totally different. I just wanna say, I know."

A silence fell upon them all, while Sharpay awaited the effects of her words, still hoping 'I know' would have been enough. Chad was quiet, because he was merely there for support, Sharpay was quiet, because the ball was now in her mom's court, and Mrs Evans was quiet, because... well, no one really knew, she was just quiet, and neither of the teenagers could read her face. Mrs Evans had always been a hard on to figure out, though she was a very emotional person.

"You know what?" Mrs Evans asked, clearly confused, and Chad didn't blame her. How would she know? It could be anything, really, that Sharpay knew, she had to be more specific. "Did you find out, what we're giving you for your 17th birthday?" She turned and spoke to Chad now. "I swear to you, my husband can't keep a secret. Because he was the one, who told you right?" She was back at talking to her daughter, who was confused at her mother's ramble. "It was supposed to be a secret. We told you, we're building a new room to the house, and that it's gonna be an office, but really it's a..."

"Mom! Mom! MOM!" Sharpay yelled, cutting her mom off at just the right place, before she accidently spilled to her daughter, what she was getting for a birthday present, when it hadn't even been what, Sharpay had been talking about in the first place. "I don't wanna know about that, because that's not what I was talking about. It's something else, that I know, mom." Sharpay paused and sighed, her mom looked reliefed somehow, as Sharpay continued; "You remember 4 years ago, when I came home crying after a day at the mall with Nadine, Chase and Liz?"

Her mom nodded, she did remember. She had a memory like an elephant. "Yeah, I remember, sweetie." She smiled at her daughter, as she remembered that fateful day, that led her to discover, what was wrong with her daughter, why she felt so different, but as far as she was concerned, Sharpay knew nothing about that. "You cried, you felt so different, but it turned out, it was just a fase, you had to go through. All teenagers feel different from time to time."

"That may be so, mom, but I've felt different everyday of my life, since I can remember." Sharpay explained to her mom, who hoped her daughter wouldn't begin to question her about it now, because if she put her on the spot, she'd most likely tell her everything, even if the family had agreed together, that neither should tell her. "But that's not the point, mom. The point is, you took me to this place, where they 'tested' me and such, claiming it was standard procedure? You told me, I was perfectly normal, but that wasn't the case, was it?" Sharpay eyed her mom in a way, that let her know, that she definitely knew something, and she was about to hear it. "I know about it all, mom. I know, that I have a handicap called Asperger's Syndrome, and I know that you wanted to keep it a secret from me, but Ryan, being a great brother, thought I deserved to know. And mom, tell me something, did you honestly thing, it would be fair to let me live a 'normal' life, when I'm incapable of doing certain things?"

"I agree, we should have told you, but we didn't wanna take your normalcy away from you." Mrs Evans explained, and Chad could see it from her point of you, but he could also see it from Sharpay's, and he completely understood, why she was outraged. "You must understand that, sweetie?"

"Normalcy?" Sharpay shouted, louder than she had ever shouted before, forcing Chad to cover his ears, and Mrs Evans to move back in her chair, taking aback by her daughter's outburst, even if she was used to almost 17 years of her tandrums. "Have you got any idea, the hell I've been through during my normalcy? And even when I did find out, my life was still hell, but at least I knew why, I felt the way I felt. Now imagine if I hadn't known? I would have been miserable, going through my hell, wondering what the hell was up with me!"

Mrs Evans shushed her daughter, not because she didn't want to listen to her, but because she wanted to calm her down. "Would you please relax, Sharpay?" She begged Sharpay, who did seem to relax a bit. She leaned back in her chair, as she folded her arms and scolded, as Mrs Evans continued, while Chad watched from the sidelines. "We need to act now. I figured, that you'd one day find out, so I have some papers from a small school for kids with the same diagnosis as you, that you can look at later. If I make a call today, I'm sure you can get to look at the school already next week, and then you'll be ready to start after the summer vacation." Mrs Evans pushed out her chair and stood up, she walked out of the kitchen and came back a little while later with some papers in her hands, which she handed to Sharpay with a apologetic smile. "Here you go, Sharpay, I wish you'd read it, with or without Chad, and I'm sorry for everything. Oh, and it was very nice seeing you again, Chad."

Mrs Evans picked up her important papers from the kitchen table, and took them with her into another room, leaving Sharpay and Chad all to themselves in the kitchen. Chad smiled at his blonde friend to let her know, that she did good, and she smiled back at him, glad that he'd been there at the sidelines, even though he kept quiet, his presence had been a great deal of support.

Sharpay was a little stunned at how things had went. Her mom took it well, and kept things nice and short, and it was like she had suspected it somehow, like she had expected Sharpay to come to her with it any given time, seeing as she had papers for a new school and everything. It was very weird, but Sharpay was glad, it had been somewhat easy, and now they could all talk openly about things, and oddly enough she was looking forward to it. Forward to everything really, changing school and everything. Once Troy found out about all of this, she hoped they'd get back together.

"That was easy. Now, what do you wanna do?" Chad asked with a smile, as he too pushed out his chair and stood up, waiting for Sharpay to do the same. "I haven't seen your room in like forever. And just to let you know, that was a hint." He paused for dramatic effect, and shook his head in a comical way, the curls in his 'fro bouncing everywhere, and he finished off by sending a funny look her way. "I wanna see your room."

Sharpay laughed, as she pushed out her chair, and got up from it in a weird way. The whole rising from chair thing, she had never been good at it, so it looked quite funny, and she appreciated, that Chad did not laugh at it. But she got up, and began to lead the way up the stairs to her room, Chad following right behind her. She had a huge smile upon her face, as she walked up those stairs, thinking about the fact, that he hadn't been up there in 4 years, and she could finally give that cd to him, that she had bought for him that fateful day at the mall.

When they got up to her room, she gave him the cd, and he got so happy about it. He requested, that they listened to it, and she plugged it into her cd-player and pressed play, and they spent the rest of their first afternoon in 4 years together, making up funny dance routines for each song.

**IRBS**

Sharpay twisted and turned in her bed that night, she couldn't get to sleep. She kept her eyes shut, and she tried her best to go to sleep, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. She had a good feeling, she knew why, she was twisting and turning like that, without being able to fall asleep; it had something to do with the events of the day.

It was nothing bad, it had went far over her expectations, extremely well actually. She had explained things to Jack Bolton, gotten on his good side, now that he understood her, and she had also become friends with Chad again, which was awesome, and she had spent practically the whole day without him. Normally a day without either Troy, Liz or Chase would freak her out, but not that day, because she was with her best friend, Chad. Yes, she saw him as her best friend again.

To top it all off, she had told her mom, that she knew about her handicap, and that they had all tried to keep it a secret from her. Her mom had took it surprisingly well, and she'd had new school papers ready for her and everything, and she was going to have a look at it monday next week. She was excited about it, but she hadn't made up her mind, if it was a good excited or not yet.

At dinner the whole family had discussed things, and Sharpay had a feeling, things were gonna be so much easier, now that things were out in the open, and she could finally get the 'help', that she needed, even if she hated that stupid word. Taylor had been there at dinner too, she was always there, because she and Ryan were like inseperable, and obviously she knew about the whole situation.

Over all it had been a good day, and Sharpay was glad, that she no longer had to walk around in the hallways of East High, which was a school for teens without a diagnosis, and act like she was completely normal. Now she was gonna go to a place, where she could completely be herself. She could say things, do things, that she couldn't get herself to do at East High, because they would have found her more of a freak than usual. Of course people had had a sense, that something had been different about her, even if she'd tried to hide her, but the point was she no longer had to hide it.

It was all great, but the only thing she wasn't looking forward to was, that the whole school had to know why, Sharpay Evans was to go to another school after the summer. Sharpay didn't have to tell them herself, her mom had made sure to save her from that horrifying experience, but the students of East High still had to know. The principal had to tell them, and Sharpay didn't know when, some time before the summer vacation obviously, and she'd be present while he told them all, which was what she wasn't looking forward to at all. It would be so embarrassing, even with her friends by her side for support.

Still with mostly good things in the back, she wasn't able to fall asleep, and it bugged her to no end. The reason was Troy, she sure of it, she missed him so much, and she couldn't fall asleep, knowing that he didn't want her anymore. She knew it was all her fault, and she had done hers subconsciously to break it off, and she finally succeeded, but it was a horrible mistake, and now she had done, what he wanted her to in order to fix it, in order to have a chance with him again, but he had no idea. How was she gonna prove to him, that she had changed?

She could go up to him one day in school, and try to convince him, that she had changed, but she knew he wouldn't believe her just like that, he would want proof of some sort, and she knew she couldn't give that to him, because how can you prove to someone, that you've changed? It would take a lot of hard work, and she would need several days, months even, to convince him, because it would probably take that long for him to be certain.

There was always the one thing, that he really wanted from her, those simple words and it wouldn't take that much from her, it was just words. I'd rather be special, that's what he wanted to hear from her, she knew that, but the thought of saying them brought tears to her eyes, so she had to open them, and she saw the darkness of the room.

She cried, because she didn't feel all that special, and if she were to tell him, that she was special, it would be a lie. Then again, if she told him, she'd rather be special, it would become the truth, it would become real. If she said the words, she'd become the words somehow, if that made any sense, because oddly enough it did to her.

Her phone lied on her nightstand, and she needed to get it, she needed to call Troy, and she didn't care what time it was. She fumbled after the phone in the darkness, and she knocked something down on the floor, she could hear, and she hoped it wasn't her cellphone, then she'd have to turn on the damn light and get down on the floor and get it.

Success. She found it, and closed her hand around it, she brought it close to herself, and flipped it open. She saw, that it was 12:30 am, but she didn't care, this needed to be done. She searched for Troy's name in her phone book, she found it and pressed the green button, and she immediately got voicemail.

_"This is Troy's phone, and I'm currently unavailable, but I'm sure you know the drill. The whole leave me a message after the beep routine, you're probably familiar with it, so no need to explain it to someone as smart as you. So speak."_

**BEEP!**

Sharpay sobbed uncontrolable at the sound of Troy's voice without being able to talk to him, and a lot of minutes had past, before she was finally somewhat prepared to leave that message, and she tried to look past the embarrassing fact, that Troy would be listening to 3 minutes of her sobs, before he'd be able to hear her message, once he checked his voice mail.

"I'd rather be special." Sharpay cried into the phone, as she hoped with all her might, that the message would bring her Troy back. Then she hung up the phone, and threw it out of her hand, and went back to try and fall asleep.

_And there it is, I hope you'll like it enough to review. I've written this as fast as I possibly could, but with my computer situation, it was quite hard, though I hope to begin next chapter very soon, so this fic can be done soon. I'm sure you're dying to know, how this will end, right? Anyway, I can't write much in this author's note, because my littlebrother is jumping up and down, waiting to get his computer back, so I have to be quick at this. So please review, I mean you all gotta fight for the next dedication, don't make it too easy for those amazing reviewers, I've already dedicated chapters to, go for the next dedication. REVIEW :D!_

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_


	15. You Seem Fine Without Me

_Hey there everybody. So I'm back (from outta space ;b), and I seriously couldn't wait to start writing on this again, especially since I got the most amazing reviews for last chapter, so it's gonna be seriously had to find someone to dedicate this chapter to, but a good hard. So yeah, thanks for those reviews, and I hope you'll find this chapter good enough to review too. If we are lucky, this will be done before 2009, maybe I don't know, and I think, that before I post the very last chapter, I'll be bringing a sneak peak of the spin-off your way, so you can look forward to that. Anyway, again thanks, and now on with chapter 14 of I'd Rather Be Special. Here we go;_

_**Disclaimer; **__Nathalie Nielsen (Me) is not involved with Disney, who owns High School Musical. Sorry for the disappointment :(._

_**Dedication;**__ This has been a hard decision, I've wanted to choose a bunch of people, but this chapter is dedicated to __smilingrulz__! I seriously loved her review, especially because I thought, she'd forgotten about this story, or she didn't want to read it, because it had gotten bad, but then I got this incredibly long, amazing review from her. First I was like; WHY? I had already switched the dedication so many times, and then this great review came, and then I was on the fence, but the greatness of her review overruled them all. So this is for you, sweetie, and you wondered, if you'd get to see Sharpay's new school, this chapter will start there. Aren't you just WEEEE? You should be, plus I know you like Liz, and this chapter should contain a little more of her. I just loved you review, and I totally accept your apology, although with all that's been going on, you didn't have to. Anyways, I present to you chapter 14._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**14. You Seem Fine Without Me.**

Sharpay glanced around the room, it looked strange, not like a classroom at all. Where were all the desks, the teacher's desk, and since when were there couches in a classroom? Everything there seemed weird to her, and the lady before her was strange also.

Like said there were no desks in the classroom, there were about 6 booth, so the students could seperately and do their individual work, because they were taught alone. If they originally were supposed to be in 11th grade, they didn't have to do 11th grade level work, they were taught in the level they were at in each subject. Like Sharpay, she was very good at English, she was out of her grade, so she'd get 12th grade english or something, and Sharpay had always been lousy at math, so she'd get math in a 9th grade level, which was fine by her, she could work her way up slowly. Her teacher, the one she would get after summer vacation, had explained that to her, who was actually the strange lady.

Sharpay was sitting by a big, round table, where the students in Sharpay's future class gathered by in the morning, and then they had what the called a Morning Meeting, where they discussed what they'd done in the weekend or the day before, and sometimes the teacher had some messages, they'd give to the students. The timetable would also be written on the blackboard first thing in the morning, so if there were some changes in the schedule, they'd be the first to know, and that was because people with Asperger's Syndrome wasn't big on changes, they liked structure in their day, and they liked routine.

The teacher had told her, that if they needed extra help in a subject, they were allowed to sit by the big table, where they'd get the help they needed, and if they didn't need any help, they'd be sat by their booth, working on their own. She also told Sharpay, that there were two teachers in every class, she worked together with another guy, plus there were two adults, who kinda functioned like teachers, but mostly they were with the students after school, if they wanted to attend this club-thingy, and that didn't sound like something for Sharpay, but it was okay for those who dug it.

There were computers in the classroom, one in each booth, and one for the teachers, and they were all fairly new, and in the couch area there was a television, and a playstation 2 in pink. There were all sorts of magazines, games and stuff. The teacher's computer was in a booth as well, which was were the teachers would be, if they had important, urgent work, that wasn't for the students eyes, and there was a shelf with all the supplies, they would need.

Sharpay would be in a class with all boys, because it was rare for a girl to have Asperger's Syndrome, only 1 out of 10 would be a girl, and that's why Sharpay had always found it so unfair, that she had it and not Ryan. 5 other guys and Sharpay? She wondered how that would work out, since she had a tendency to be a bit tough and foul mouthed, or she did before she discovered her disability, but if they were a bunch of nutjobs, like she suspected, then they were gonna hear it.

Her future teacher, named Elina Sullivan (she said, Sharpay should call her Elina), had asked Sharpay a question a little while ago, but Sharpay had spaced out, and she couldn't remember the question anymore, so she just sat there, staring around, hoping that if she did that long enough, Mrs. Sullivan would repeat her question, whatever it was.

"Sharpay?" Mrs. Sullivan tried to get Sharpay's attention back, waving her hand in front of Sharpay's head, and she came back to reality, slapping Mrs. Sullivan's hand away, did she have no limits? "I asked you a question, do you wanna meet you future classmates, they'll be back from gym in 5 minutes or so."

"I don't really know, Mrs. Sullivan." Sharpay said, insecurely, shrugging her shoulders, she hated meeting new people, it was so uncomfortable, but she didn't wanna say that to Mrs. Sullivan. "I mean, I don't know them, and I... just don't know."

"That's kind of the point, Sharpay, they're gonna be your classmates soon, you should at least say hi." Mrs. Sullivan reasoned, and she sent Sharpay a smile, with the blonde girl found rather exaggerated, but whatever she kept quiet about that too. "And please, call me Elina. They'll be here soon. Hugh, Thomas, Nick, Dennis and Michael, plus your other future teacher, Carlton Berry. You have to wait here and say hi to them."

"Fine, if it'll only take a few minutes, I have a friend waiting for me." Sharpay finally agreed, and then as if on cue they all barged through the door, two of them in a heated argument, and Sharpay got such a big fright, her hand flew upon her heart. "Oh my God, break it down, why don't you?"

"Who the hell is she?" One of the boys wanted to know, he was tall and dangly with blonde hair and pale skin, and then he wore glasses too, he was like a total nerd, but that wouldn't be wise to tell him, Sharpay decided.

"Dennis, we've had a talk about your language." Mr. Berry lectured his student, he was tall as well, and had blonde hair too, but he had more colour, and he looked kind of trendy, for a teacher anyways. He waved out his hand at Sharpay's direction, and all the boys eyes were on her. "This is Sharpay Evans, she'll be starting in your class after the summer."

Sharpay waved at the boys and tried to smile, even if she didn't want to, they were kind of rude, she thought, but whatever she had manners still. Two of the boys waved back with a smile upon their faces as well, like they had just met a long lost friend. Another one of the boys whispered something to Dennis, who sniggered, and Sharpay wanted to jump at them, even if she didn't know, what they had whispered about.

"Dang, she's hot." The last boy burst out, and did a funny eyebrow thing at Sharpay, like he was trying to get with her, and then he tried to step closer to her, but Mr. Berry grabbed his arms, stopping him in his tracks, and the last boy was clearly not happy with that. "Seriously Carlton, she's the kind of girl, you just wanna throw yourself upon, and thrust yourself upon her, y'know?"

"Michael, stop with the vulgar sentences, we don't wanna hear it." Mrs. Sullivan was the one to lecture now, and she waved a finger at Michael with a very stern look upon her face, and then she turned her head towards Sharpay again with a much softer look. "Don't mind Michael, he's developed this habit of always making vulgar remarks, and making everything dirty. He thinks, it makes him funny."

"Well then, hilarious." Sharpay applauded, sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Michael's direction. It was the most ridiculous thing, she had ever heard in her life, seriously who did that? "Anyways, was that all? Can I go now?"

"Aren't we social?" The boy who had whispered something to Dennis replied sarcastically, and Sharpay immediately took some kind of a liking towards him, because he used sarcasm, and she couldn't help but smile, which softened the boy up a little, and he smiled as well. "By the way, I'm Hugh. But if you wanna go, I'm not gonna stop you, I'll even hold the door."

Hugh was quite the handsome guy. He fit the dreamguy image, the whole tall, dark and handsome scenario, and he had a dazzling smile with pure white teeth, he had halflong, wavy brown hair, and big beautiful and brown eyes, and Sharpay got a good wipe from him, like he could be a nice friend, and what she gathered from him, he had a fair sense of humour.

That Michael guy, who'd made the disgusting comment before, was short, chubby and very mousy. His hair was greasy, it looked like he hadn't showered for days, and Sharpay wanted to puke at the sight of that. She really valued personal hygiene, but she also knew, that a lot of people with Asperger's had a hard time with that. She had herself, when she was younger, her mom had told her, but it was something she'd fased out, she couldn't remember it. But Sharpay was totally gonna force him into showering, once she arrived in the class.

Sharpay had spaced out again, which she quite often did. She reckoned it had something to do with her handicap, that she had a hard time focussing on just one thing. She saw their lips moving, but she couldn't hear a sound, she was in Sharpay land, though it looked like they were talking to her, and then Mrs. Sullivan placed her hand on her shoulder, which she immediately shoved away. No physical contacts, especially from strangers, which Mrs. Sullivan was to Sharpay.

"Don't touch me." She screamed out, and a redheaded boy raised his brows in a 'are you for real' kind of way, and Sharpay shot daggers at him with her eyes. "What do you want, Strawberry Head?"

"My name is not Strawberry Head!" The boy told her, and she rolled her eyes at him, like she hadn't figured, it was only a nickname, but the boy obviously thought she was serious. Some people with the handicap, can't tell when people are joking, using sarcasm or irony, anything for that matter, they always assume, people are being serious. Like if you said, it was like looking for a nail in a haystack, he would assume, that you've once been looking for a nail in a haystack. "My name is Thomas, and I don't like red."

"Well, then your hair must be a really big problem for you." Sharpay said, rolling her eyes again out of pure boredom. Why was this guy, Thomas, telling her, that he didn't like red? What the hell did she care? The last boy, who she assumed to be Nick, sniggered at that comment, and she looked sternly at him. "You think that's funny? I wasn't trying to be funny. The guy's hair is red, and he doesn't like red, don't you see the problem. What's your issue anyways?"

"I know the square root of every number up to a million." Nick told her proudly, but Sharpay did not appear to be impressed, and wasn't Dennis the one who was suppose to come with something nerdy like that, due to his appearance. Nick sensed she wasn't impressed, and then he quickly added; "Plus, I can only eat things in even numbers!"

"I seriously don't belong here!" Sharpay exclaimed, standing up from her seat in the chair, ready to flee the scenery. Those guys were a lot stranger than her, next to them she almost seemed normal, they all seemed to have these weird little things, that seemed so strange to her, mostly because she'd been used to, you had to keep those kind of things a secret. That's what she did; she couldn't go to sleep, without hugging her favorite teddy Beebob, which was a bee girl, and if Beebob fell out of her arms during the night, she'd automatically wake up, and take it back into her arms, but she didn't tell people that.

"Sharpay, give it a chance." Mrs. Sullivan almost pleaded her, and grabbed Sharpay around the wrist, pulling her back down on her chair, which clearly didn't please Sharpay very much, she now wore the grumpiest look, that Mrs. Sullivan tried to mellow. "Let's all just sit down, have a nice chat and get to know each other. By the end of this, you might all have some understandance of each other, and you'll act friendlier against one another, and some time you might be able to be good class mates. What do you say?"

Mrs. Sullivan had a strange 'let's bring peace to the world' and 'let's all be friends' attitude, that Sharpay did not get, but still she let out and exaggerated sigh and said a dragged out; "FINE!"

**IRBS**

"You look beat." Chad acknowledged, when Sharpay an hour later dragged herself to the parking lot, where Chad been waiting for her, and she smiled as a reply. "Nothing bad, though. It's a good kind of beat. Did you get to meet your new classmates, were they nice? You've not found a replacement for me, have you?"

Sharpay rolled her eyes at Chad, sometimes his jokes were just bad, and she didn't know what to tell him. "No, I haven't found a replacement for you." She said with a du'h tone, like he'd be stupid to think so, and then she stopped in front of him, and went face to face with him. "How could I ever, you're my chocolate poodle."

"Yeah, but seriously tell me about it." Chad demanded, curiously. He had proposed going up the with her, but she'd declined by saying, it was something she needed to do on her own, and he respected that. He was proud of what, she'd accomplished so far, and she clearly had the will. "I mean it, what were they like? What were your teachers like?"

"Uhm, they were all nice, at the end of it, I mean. At first, we were all a bit rude to each other, y'know me and my future classmates." Sharpay said, as they both silently agreed to walk towards Chad's car, and that's what they did, while Sharpay explained things further; "Y'know that kinda rude I used to be, before I got diagnosed. Well, maybe not that rude, but I had that same attitude, not that weak attitude I've been carrying around lately."

"Back when you weren't afraid to be yourself." Chad agreed, nodding his head, making his curls bounce up and down in a funny way, Sharpay noticed. She noticed those kind of things, she was very good at noticing details like that, and sometimes she would point them out to people, but not now, because it was irrelevant.

Sharpay nodded her head, remembering those days. "Yeah, that was before you made me afraid to be myself." She pointed out to him, and his eyes immediately begged forgiveness, but he had already gotten that, so it wasn't necessary, and then Sharpay carried on talking. "But anyways, they are all really nice and special. There's this guy Nick, he's killer at math, but he has this weird thing, where he can't eat things in uneven numbers. There's another guy named Thomas, he has red hair, but he doesn't like red, plus he likes to draw, and he's amazing at it, but he never uses the colour red. Dennis is really good with computers and technical things, but he has bigger social problems than the rest of us, he doesn't know, how to communicate properly, which is kinda sad, but he has his computer. Michael is really good to talk to, once you get to know him, but you kinda get the wrong impression of him at first, because his humour is making vulgar comments, but as said that's just his sense of humour, but he is really, really nice, and apparently he's great at cooking, and he knows like every dish with rice in the entire world, plus he knows every word in the wordbook with an M, because that's his favorite letter, due to his name. Then there is Hugh, he's my favorite! He's quite handsome, and he has a great sense of humour, and is very sarcastic, kinda like me, and then he's really into car, like he knows everything about them, and then he's a sports guy, kinda like you and Troy. He's the best, I think he could be a great friend, y'know."

"Wow, sounds interesting." Chad said, and that was the truth. He'd gathered most of what Sharpay had said, but it had been kinda hard, because she'd spoken with the speed of light, which she often did, when she rambled, though it hadn't technically been a ramble. "Does that mean, you've found a replacement for Troy?"

Chad hoped the answer to his question wouldn't be a yes, and he had a feeling it wouldn't be, but he still had to ask, it seemed important to ask that particular question, even if it would hurt Sharpay. He had to ask, because he knew, Sharpay wasn't good with longterm commitments, or she wasn't good at new longterm commitments, like when she took on new thing, she'd most often give up, and Troy was still kind of a new thing, and Chad just hoped, that his best friend hadn't given up on his other best friend yet.

"Of course not, Troy will always be the guy for me." Sharpay reassured her best friend, and then she stopped in her tracks, making Chad automatically stop in his as well, and then he could see, she'd fallen sad all because of him, but he had to ask it, now he just hoped, that whatever Sharpay was feeling, he could make her feel better. "About Troy..." Sharpay said, slowly and barely audible, but Chad's ears were pierced now, and he heard every word. "I left a message for him about a week ago, saying that I'd rather be special, because I meant it, and that's what he wanted me to admit to him, if we were to ever get back together, but he hasn't replied to it." She paused, and then she whimpered out her last words; "I don't think, he loves me anymore."

"Shaggy, that's a ridiculous thing to say! Of course, he still loves you, he just hasn't heard the message yet." Chad said, his voice full of confidence that it was the truth, though he had no idea, but he was almost possitive, that it was the case. He had heard the way, Troy used to talk about Sharpay, he wouldn't stop loving her just like that. "You're just freaking out, because Troy was your first ever boyfriend, so you don't know, how you go about these things. That's all. Anyways, I'll make sure, he hears that message."

"Thank you, CP. I think you're the only person, who really, truly knows me." Sharpay revealed to him, and he shot her a confused look, because he didn't understand, why she sad that. Obviously Liz, Chase and Troy knew her too? So the blonde dug into it. "No, you are. You know more about me, than anyone else ever could, you know every little detail. For Christ's sake, you were even there, when I lost my first tooth."

"Again, I'm so, so sorry for that day. I didn't do it on purpose!" Chad exclaimed, throwing his hand up in an 'I surrender' kind of way, as they both started to remember that day in kindergarten, when Sharpay had lost her first tooth. It started off as a good day with colouring and stuff, but then... "I just wanted to show you, the karate trick I could do, I didn't mean to kick out your tooth. It was accidental!"

"It was a high kick, and you yelled out 'karate chop', as you did it, you monkey." Sharpay remembered, her voice an octav higher than Chad's voice, but wasn't that just girls? That was also the first time, Sharpay remembered having a screaming fit, where she'd scream uncontrolably, and no-one would be able to stop her. She used to have a lot of those, when she was younger, she also used to throw things, but she didn't do that anymore. "That was also the day, I had my first memorable tandrum. But can you blame me? You 'karate chop' hurt like hell."

"Why are you still blaming me?" Chad wondered, though they were both just kidding around now, because today they both found that particular day oh so funny, even if it had been a total crappy day back then. Especially for Chad, he got punished, and Sharpay got rewarded, because she'd lost a tooth. "You got 5 bucks from the toothfairy, and I got my week's allowance taken away."

"Oh, that must have been a very traumatic experience for you. You missed out on a pack of pokémon cards, or digimon, or whatever era card it was?" Sharpay joked, sticking her tongue out at him, and Chad crossed his arms, fake pouting. He held that pose for a while, and then they both broke down laughing. "That's what I mean, Chad. We've known each other since kindergarten, I've known Liz, Chase and Gabriella since I was 10, and I've known Troy since this year. You catch my meaning?"

"Yeah, I understand you now." Chad said with that cute smile of his, and then they proceeded walking towards his car, which was also parked in the far end this time, but Sharpay wasn't gonna complain about it this time. "I think, we might be able to catch the last few periods of school, if we hurry back. What do you say?"

Sharpay stared at him, like he had gone insane. "Are you crazy? We've gotten the day off to go here, and you wanna go back to school?" She questioned with total disbelief in her voice, he was the only person, she knew who would actually utter those words, even Gabriella wouldn't. "I swear, CP, sometimes I don't know you."

"Fine, I get it. Veto." Chad chuckled, as they reached his car. They stopped in front of it, they weren't quite ready to get inside yet, so they just stood there and talked. Chad didn't really wanna go anyways, he just wanted to check, if Sharpay did. "It's not like I wanted to, y'know, I just wanted to make sure, you didn't, because you have some strange tendencies sometimes. Now, I know you can't use that word in that kind of sentence, but I'm gonna use it anyways, because I'm awesome."

"Strange tendencies?" Sharpay giggled at the word combination, and then she gave Chad a light push, because of two reasons; he was teasing her, and he was getting a little big headed. Awesome, he said, dream on. "I've never realized this before, CP, but your hair is as big as your ego! Wow!"

"Anyways, let's get on going to your house." Chad then said, and he rushed over to the passenger side of the car, and opened the door for Sharpay. She walked over, and gracefully got into the car, offering her best friend a smile as a thank you. "Then we can have a game of Need For Speed on your PS2, and I can whip your butt."

"You wish!" Sharpay laughed with teasing mock, Chad was seriously disturbed, if he thought he could beat her at Need For Speed, when he had never even been close. The only chance he had of beating her, was if they were playing a fighting game, like Tekken. "I'm the undefeated champion, you can never beat me. But fine, I'll take the challenge. Let's going, so can whip _your_ butt!"

Chad gently closed his precious car door, and then he slowly made his way to the other side, where the driver's seat was. He carefully opened the door, it was his dad's old car, and then he got in, closing the door behind him. Then he turned on the engine, and they drove off towards Sharpay's house, talking all the way, mostly joking because they were in that mood.

**IRBS**

Tuesday was a good day, mainly because they could sleep in for an hour, they were meeting an hour later today. Or Sharpay, Liz, Chase and Gabriella were, those on the basketball team met at regular time, and they used the time on practise. That's why Sharpay loved tuesdays, because she could sleep more. She hated getting up early, it was just the worst.

Still, she arrived 15 minutes earlier, than she was supposed to. Liz had talked her into it, and she had never thought it would be possible for anybody, but when that tiny little girl put on her puppydog eyes, nobody could resist, so that's why Sharpay was there 15 minutes early - and dead tired.

Chase was there also, looking as tired as Sharpay felt. The pale brunette looked as though, she hadn't slept all night, and if she wasn't tired, she was definitely upset over something, which Sharpay found weird. Chase was genuinly in a good mood, like all the time, though she didn't smile brightly every second of the day, like Liz did. Chase was upset over something, Sharpay was sure of it, and she was good at reading people.

Gabriella was there too, but her and Liz wasn't goofing off, because she had her nose buried in a book, she just 'had to' read. It seemed like it was a novelle, and it wore the title 'Snowstorm'. It was a good title, Sharpay concluded, but she would never read it, because she wasn't one for reading out of her own free will. She only ever read, what the teachers forced upon them, but Gabriella really seemed to be into that book, and that was okay.

They went through the doors of East High, and Sharpay noticed out of the corner of her eye, that Liz seemed a bit bouncy that day, she couldn't keep her body still, as still as normal people had their bodies, when they walked. Why did she always bounce? Neither Gabriella or Chase seemed to notice, they kept wandering around in their own little universe.

Chase sighed, and Sharpay was getting worried. Why was she so upset, and why didn't she talk to them? They always talked to her, when something was up, and one would thing, she'd do the same to them. They could take it, they might even be able to help her through it, if she'd just talk to them, it wasn't like she was there mother, and she wanted to spare them the worry. If they reached around the corner, and Chase hadn't fessed up, Sharpay was gonna question her about it. Her mind was made up!

Suddenly Sharpay saw, that almost everybody were staring at her, and she wondered why? She looked to Liz, who seemed to be the only one, who wasn't in some sort of trance out of her three friends. "What's going on, Lil? Why is everybody staring at me?" She wanted to know, and the tiny girl stopped bouncing in her walk, and Sharpay knew it was something serious then. What could it be?

"Uhm, that might have something to do with your no-show yesterday." Liz explained, being all mysterious, at least to Sharpay who was totally confused. She looked at her friend in a 'what are you talking about' kind of way, and Liz elaborated. "The principal might have told everybody, when we were gathered in the cafeteria at lunch, that you were changing school after the summer, and he might also have explained why. That's all I know."

Liz held her hands up in defense in her own silly-Lilee way. Sharpay couldn't help giggling a little bit, because Liz looked like a person, who thought Sharpay would beat her up, if she didn't tell the whole truth, but then the information dawned on her. Everybody knew! She didn't think, it would happen that soon, though it had, but she didn't get there staring.

"Then why are they all staring? I mean, just staring?" Sharpay questioned, squinting her eyes at everybody, like she'd figure it out that way. She shivered, it was horrifying having all eyes on you, kinda like a bug under a magnifying glass. "It's uncomfortable. I feel like a monster, or a monkey at the zoo."

"Mr. Matsui might also have told everybody, that they shouldn't come up to you and talk to you about it, they should leave you alone, but if you came up to them on your own to talk about it, then that would be fine." Liz revealed with her signature smile, which she always wore whenever, because she was unable to wipe it off. Sharpay wanted to hug her tiny friend for still being there, because many people would just leave their friend hanging, once something like that came out in the open, afraid of being teased. It just proved, Sharpay had true friends, and she listened carefully, as Liz continued; "And if anybody were to break those rules, they would get early morning and late afternoon detention all of their senior year, and I don't think, they'll want that, so that's why they're only staring."

Chase stopped in her tracks all of the sudden, like something had hit her, and then she walked over to nearest locker, kicking it, which made Gabriella remove her eyes from her book, and then she, Liz and Sharpay looked at Chase with curious eyes, wondering what was going on, because that wasn't normal Chase behaviour. Chase Feller didn't kick lockers, and if she did, she did it in her mind, so this was very strange.

"What did that locker ever do to you?" Sharpay asked her friend, something people usually say as a joke, but Sharpay was dead serious, so she could get some information out of one of her best friends. "First of it's not your locker, and I reckon, Shawn Bentley won't be too happy, if he finds out, you've kicked his locker. Seriously, who puts a nametag on their locker?"

"It didn't do anything to me." Chase sighed, and faced her friends with a sad look upon her face mixed with a mixture of angry emotions. She walked back to them, trying to smile, but it didn't work, and she continued; "It's just, my lame ass father have grounded me for 6 months. A month for dating, one for dating a black guy, one for disobeying him, one for hanging out with a black guy, one for lying to him, and one for sneaking around with my black boyfriend. It's totally unfair, because all in all it's the same, and then it should just be one month. And seriously, who grounds their for an entire half year? It's unhuman!"

"So you can't see Zeke anymore?" Gabriella wanted to know, as she put her book back in her schoolbag, and then she focused her attention on their conversation. This seemed more important than some book, that she could always read, this was serious business. "Are you guys breaking up? Or are you going to break with him? Oh my God, he's gonna be so sad, he loves you Chase."

"I know he does, and I'm not breaking up with him." Chase assured her friends, because she had a lot of tricks up her sleeve, and she had outsmarted her father a lot of times, and she could surely do it again, she simply wasn't gonna give up on Zeke, she loved him too much. "I'm still gonna see him, don't worry. For now only at school, but when I figure something out, I'll be able to see him outside of school. This is one case, where my father doesn't get the last word."

"Oh, which reminds me, Lil, you should give Chad another chance. He really, really likes you." Sharpay turned to Liz and said, unable to stay on one topic, and she did feel like, it didn't need anymore discussion, because Chase had made her mind up, and she would surely get it that way, whatever they said or advised her to do, because she was like that. "He misses you, and he's totally sorry, that he lied to you, and hurt your feelings, but all you have to do is forgive him."

"I don't want to forgive him." Liz said, and then she began walking, and it set on a chain reaction, as the rest of the girls started walking too, so they could walk together and talk. Liz wasn't as forgiving as Chase was, who'd forgive someone right on the spot, but Liz holding the grudge, which was very Chad like, just wasn't an option, she had to forgive him. "He told me, he was done scheming on you, and it was a lie, but I believed him, because I have faith in people, and he proved to me, that I shouldn't have. I trusted him, and I fell for him, I actually had feelings for him, and all he ever did for me was let me down."

Gabriella could sense, Liz didn't want to discuss this any further, so she quickly changed the subject to something else. "Shar, how was your new school?" With those words, all the girls eyes were on her, they were eager to know, what it was like there, and they were set on finding out, where one of their best friends were going, it was important. "Are you looking forward to it, or did it suck?"

"It was the right place for me. I liked the class, liked my teachers, liked the students, and I think it's gonna be fun." Sharpay revealed to them, and Gabriella nodded her head along to her words, like she could picture it in her head, even if Sharpay hadn't said anything vivid, but Gabriella was just like that. Liz looked excited to know more, and Chase smiled proudly at her friend for the step, she was taking in her life. "Maybe you could come with me one day, after I've started there, and you can see it? You won't believe this, but they have a PS2 in their classroom."

"They are so gonna get their butt kicked in Need For Speed." Liz laughed, as she thought back on a day, that she was overly cocky and totally convinced, that she could beat Sharpay at the game, but she was proved wrong, though the process of losing was so much fun. Liz made jokes and laughed at, how bad she was at the game, and made funny sounds, when she couldn't make a turn, and they both joked, and after that Sharpay celebrated her victory in a very funny way, she threw coconut marshmallows at Liz, and she tried to catch them with her mouth, unsuccesfully, but the day had still been so much fun.

"What about Troy?" This time Chase changed the subject, because she found it more important than this Need For Speed, Sharpay can beat everybody issue. She was getting fed up with Troy biting her head off, whenever she tried to be there for him, and the only way that could stop, was if he could get his happiness with Sharpay back. "You said, you did all of this for him, and you have changed majorly, so where is he?"

"I've passed the ball, and it's in his court now. I don't know, if he wants me back, and I don't wanna think about, because it hurts too much, what if he doesn't?" Sharpay said, and then she decided to change the subject again on to something happier than that, because she didn't wanna weep over Troy any more than necessary. She had her friends, and she didn't see, why she couldn't be happy with just them for now, even if the thought of being without Troy hurt her deeply. "Anyways, Lilee has always bragged, that she's possitive, she can eat a ten scoop icecream, and this afternoon I'm gonna give it to her. Do you wanna come along?" Chase and Gabriella quickly nodded, as they let the former subjects slide and moved on to more funny things, even if Chase was grounded, she was sure as hell gonna find a way to go. "You should both bring cameras, so we can snap of pictures, when Lileebeth barf all ten scoops up."

They laughed so much, that Sharpay didn't even notice, that they passed by Troy, standing in the hallway with Chad by his side, watching them sadly, as they seemed to have fun to him. Chad also watched them with a happy face turning sad, when his eyes landed upon the smallest girl in the group, the girl he loved, the girl who hated him, the girl he wanted another chance with, but he was more focussed on Troy's sadness, and how he was gonna help him and Troy get back together.

Liz crossed her arms and fake pouted, trying to seem offended. When she said, she could eat ten scoops, she'd be damned if she could eat ten scoops. "I can so eat ten scoops, you just wait and see." Liz shouted to get her point across, and then she dozed off into a dreamworld, where she was eating the icecream, as she dreamily listed the flavours, she wanted. "Strawberry, tuttifrutti, vanilla, chocolate, marzipan, caramel, coconut, smarties, daim and white chocolate. It's gonna be so gooooooood!"

Chase, Gabriella and Sharpay glanced at each other, as they reached around the corner, they all made disgusted faces, because only Liz would find that to be delicious, and then they said the same thing at the same time; "It's gonna be so disgusting."

They laughed again, they found it so funny, that they had uttered those words at the exact same time. The only one who wasn't laughing was Liz, because she was too wrapped up in dreaming about the icecream, she'd get in the afternoon. Though no matter how disgusting the brunette, the blonde and the latina found it, they still couldn't wait to actually see their friend go through it.

Chase looked down on her watch, and saw that their first class would begin soon, and her eyes grew big. She couldn't be late, when her father was so mad at her these days. "We have to hurry up and get to class, or we're gonna be late." She exclaimed, and the girls nodded as if to say okay, and then they sped up a little bit, and they arrived in class only 30 seconds before, it started.

**IRBS**

Troy watched, as Chad entered the gym a little later than the rest of the team, and then he went straight over to Coach Bolton, whom he engaged in a conversation with. Troy found it weird, because normally Chad would try to engage in a conversation with him instead, as he wanted Troy to forgive him for all the wrong, that he had done towards him and Sharpay. It annoyed him, and he still hadn't forgiven his bighaired friend. He couldn't.

His team mates had started practise, wanting to impress Coach, they were dribling the ball around or whatever, Troy wasn't too sure, because as soon as Chad stepped into the gym and walked over to his dad, Troy had grabbed his basketball in his hand, and stopped whatever he was doing, which he did not remember what was, and then he just stared, trying to figure out what Chad's game was now.

Whatever Chad was telling his dad, his dad seemed very interested in what Chad had to say, and every now and then they both glanced over at Troy, and then they went back to their conversation, which Troy guessed might be about him, so what were they saying? They glanced over at him again, his dad a studious look upon his face, and then he shook his head. They both seemed down, and Troy wondered why.

Then Chad told his dad something, and it took a while for him to get it out, which made his dad smile, but then he glanced over at Troy again, and his face fell sad again. Not entirely sad, it was kind of like a midst between happy and sad, he was glad about something, but something about Troy made him sad, it seemed. It was very confusing, especially from where Troy was standing, it wasn't like he was a mindreader.

They wrapped up their conversation, and then Chad joined the rest of the team, grabbing a basketball, and Jack began coaching them. He had some new foot work, he wanted them to practise, but Troy didn't know what it was, he was in his own little world, and he just couldn't focus. His thoughts revolved around Sharpay, and why she didn't want him back.

He had seriously thought, that when he broke up with her, and he said those things to her, she had cared enough about him to do everything, that stood in her power to get him back, but that didn't seem to be the case. It hurt to think about, he didn't matter as much to Sharpay, as he had originally thought. He wondered, if it would be best to try and forget about her?

He couldn't make his mind up, should he forget about her and let her go, or should he keep believing in what they once had? He tried avoiding everything, that had to do with her, untill he found out what to do. He had covered up everything in his room, that reminded him of her, he had even had his cellphone shut off, because he had Sharpay on his display; a picture of her, napping with her favourite bee-teddy Beebob, which was a girl, in her room.

It was a funny story actually. Troy had been at Sharpay's house, they had hung out in her room, and then he needed to use the bathroom, so he went and did his business, and when he came back, he found Sharpay lying in her bed, sleeping and hugging her Beebob close, she had simply fallen a sleep, while he had been to the bathroom. Troy thought she looked so cute, lying their with Beebob, that he pulled out his cellphone and snapped a picture of her with it. That was before, he had learned to shut the flash off on his cellphone camera, so the flash had woken up Sharpay, and without having even seen the picture, she had jumped up and chased him, demanding he deleted it. She never caught him, and he never deleted it.

Maybe it was time to turn on his cellphone again, even if it hurt him, he could feel himself needing to see that picture again, he needed to sit and remember that entire day, just looking at picture. He knew it was quite sentimental for a guy, but any kind of person could get their heart broken, you didn't need to be a girl for that. He knew, that he had done the breaking up, but that didn't mean, it didn't break his heart, because it did.

Practise flew by, and before Troy knew it, he was standing outside the doors to the gym, fresh out of the shower with wet hair and clean clothes, leaning up against the wall, still in his own little universe of thoughts. People walked by, said hello, because after all Troy was still very popular, but he didn't take notice to them, he said nothing back, which might have been rude, but he was in what seemed to be an unbreakable trance.

Without him even noticing it, Chad came out through the gym doors and joined him, leaning up against the wall next to him. The black guy patiently waited for his friend to break out of his trance, and see him standing there next to him, so they could have a conversation. He had made Sharpay a promise, and it was a promise, he intended to keep, if it was at all possible.

Troy heard voices, familiar voices. In his trance they sounded muffled, but he could still make them out. He could hear Liz, sounding as cheery as ever. He could hear Chase's husky voice, he could hear her saying his name, she was probably complaining about him, even though he knew it wasn't her style. He could hear Gabriella's voice somewhere in the girls' conversation as well. Lastly, he could hear HER, he could hear Sharpay, he didn't know, what she was saying because of his trance, but he knew her voice by heart, it was her. Suddenly, by her voice, he was broken out of his trance, and he noticed Chad standing next to him.

"What are you doing here?" Troy questioned, sounding rather moody. He looked at Chad, like he was an unimportant person for him, like he was a waste of his space, and Chad understood him. "I can't believe you. I don't know, what you scheme is this time, or what the hell you're doing with my dad, but I want you to stop it." Troy paused, and Chad looked at him with a confused look upon his face, and Troy flipped out. "Haven't you done enough? Haven't learned anything from your previous schemes? You don't only heard other people, you hurt yourself too. You've hurt me, you've hurt Shar, you've hurt Lilee, I think more than anybody, plus you've hurt Zeke, who really had faith in you, and by hurting me, you've hurt Chase, because I cannot contain my emotions. I'm so upset with you, you're unbelievable. I can't believe, you still have the nerve to even talk to me. I wish you would just go away forever."

"That almost sounded like something, Sharpay would say to me." Chad acknowledged, acting like what Troy had just said didn't effect him in any way, much to Troy's annoyance, but Chad had promised to try and push his former best friend in Sharpay's direction, and like mentioned he was gonna do his best. "Speaking of your blonde ex-girlfriend. Have you considered getting back together with her?"

Troy was about to reply, when Liz, Chase, Gabriella and Sharpay walked past them, and they were all laughing, having fun it seemed, and it stung in his heart to see Sharpay like that with out him. Once they were out of sight, Troy turned to Chad and said; "Why should I get back together with her, when she clearly seems fine without me?"

"Everything is not what it seems." Chad pointed out, which Troy was very insightful of him, but he didn't wanna listen, because he felt like he knew every bit about Sharpay, except for the secrets she kept from him, and if she seemed fine without him, then obviously she was. "And hasn't she done everything, you wanted from her? Then what's the problem, she practically begged for you back, dude, what is it that you want?"

"The very thing she won't give me." Troy shouted, and both he and Chad were surprised, that he so quickly lost control over his voice, but they both chose to act like nothing, and then Troy carried on. "All I wanted was a girlfriend who was special, which she was, but I also wanted her to realize, she was special, which she wouldn't. I can let the secret about you slide, if she'd just give me that." Troy sighed, and paused for a few seconds, and he slowly continued; "I thought I knew her, you know, I thought I mattered so much to her, that if I broke up with her and said those things to her, she'd get her act together and do it, but I was wrong. I didn't matter to her at all."

Chad got so mad at what Troy had said, that he completely forgot about, what he had promised Sharpay, because his friend obviously didn't have clue about anything. "Would you please stop playing the victim in this, and open your eyes to the personal boundaries Sharpay has crossed for you? And before you start blabbing again about 'all you wanted', then maybe you should listen to your voicemail, and then we'll see how much, you wanna complain and feel sorry for yourself."

Troy was about to open his mouth and say something back, but Chad wouldn't hear anything from him, and he cut him off, before he even got to say a sentence, not even a word. "I mean it, Troy. And as far as you knowing Troy, that may very well be true, you might actually know her to a certain extinct, but you don't even know half the things, you should know. You don't even know, what she wished to be growing up. I do, because I'm her best friend. You know about her, but you don't really know her. Not really, really."

"I know, what she wanted to be growing up." Troy protested, he thought what Chad was saying was pure rubbish, because he thought, he really, really knew her, but then he realized, he didn't know, so he said the first thing, that came to mind. He said, what he knew his littlesister Tynisha, bless her soul, wanted to be, when she was still growing up, and what he believed every little girl wanted to be. "She wanted to be a princess, like cinderella."

"Wrong! And if she had wanted to be a princess, and you knew, you wouldn't have said 'like cinderella', you would have said 'like Aurora', which is her favourite princess." Chad told him, and Troy felt bad being caught in the first proof, that he didn't really, really know Sharpay, and then the 'fro carried on, revealing to him, what Sharpay had wanted to be growing up. "When Sharpay was a little girl, she wanted to be a punk rocker, because they wore a lot of pink, which was her favourite colour growing up, but on contrary to popular belief, it isn't anymore. Do you know, what is?"

"I know this one, I know this one! Hmm, if it isn't pink, it has got to be red." Troy tried, because he had really thought, Sharpay's favourite colour was pink, or he had just forgotten what it was, so he picked the colour, he could think of, that was closest the pink, and that was red. Just add white to red, and you'd have pink.

"Wrong." Chad said again, and shook his head, making his curls do a funny dance, and then he decided to give it to Troy some more, because he was still very mad. "It's purple. Her favourite candy is coconut marshmallows, her favorite food is bread with banana, her favourite teddy is Beebob, which I won for her at a carnival, when we were 4 years old. Her favourite movie is Sleeping Beauty, I know her favourite everything, and you barely know anything. Plus she collects bolero's, which she likes to wear over her dresses. Now you know these things, but I bet you're gonna go back to whining again." Chad paused with a sigh, and then he placed a hand upon his friend's shoulder and softly spoke; "I can understand, how you feel, Troy, I really can. I used to feel that way once, but you can't keep feeling sorry for yourself, you need to stop seeing only the surface of things, and you should really, and I do mean really, listen to your voicemail, because it will prove you wrong about Sharpay."

"I think maybe you're right. I did know a lot of things about her, but I forgot about little things, that are maybe more important than some of the really deep things." Troy admitted, and then he closed his eyes, mentally slapping himself in the back of the head, how was that stupid. He thought of something confusing, Chad had said to him a little earlier, and he opened his eyes and locked them with Chad's, and then he wondered out loud; "Before you said a couple of times, I should listen to my voicemail. What did you mean?"

"It will contain something important, which you need to hear from Sharpay, and not from me." Chad revealed to him, and it didn't clear things up one bit in Troy's opinion, but Chad had his reasons for being mysterious like that. Chad was excited, it seemed like, he'd gotten through to Troy, but then again you never knew, his friend could go back to dwelling, as soon as he was out of sight. "Just do it as soon as possible, okay? And then I hope, that maybe we could be friends again, y'know forget the past. You don't have to make your mind up right now, just think about, okay?"

"I will." Troy said with a nod, underlining that he'd actually take his friendship with Chad into consideration, and then he noticed the big clock on the wall and gasped. "Shit, Chad, we're late for class, and the teacher already hates me as it is. Well, he hates everybody, but still... let's go."

Chad scratched the back of his head, and then he got an apologetic look upon his face. "Uhm, I'm sorry, Troy, but I'm not really in that class." Chad explained to his friend (?), and then he pointed in another direction, than where Troy was headed and continued. "I'm going that way to another teacher, who hates everybody as well, especially me for some reason."

"Maybe it's because you have a tendency to be a bit arrogant sometimes?" Troy offered, wearing a teasing smile, and Chad looked fake offended, and he threw up his hands in a 'no way am I arrogant' kind of way, and Troy let out a short laugh. "Or maybe it's just because you're Chad Danforth, there are an endless number reasons to why."

"Ok, I'm going now." Chad announced, his voice not happy at all, but he was faking being upset, which Troy knew, because Chad had never really been a good actor, and then he started walking in the other direction, than where Troy was head. He looked back over his shoulder and yelled; "I am so not arrogant. That's false information."

Troy shook his head and laughed, as Chad disappeared around the corner, his bad acting was just so funny, and then he turned around, and headed for the classroom, where he was supposed to be now. It sucked that he was late, and it sucked even more, that when he entered the class, their teacher used him as an example to why, he hated so much being a teacher, and then Troy did the walk of shame towards an empty seat. This day was gonna suck, he could just feel it in his gut!

**IRBS**

That day did end up sucking, as he had to serve detention in the afternoon, and first got off at 5pm, when he was seriously annoyed with the events of the day. He decided to cheer himself up by going down to the annual carnival/festival, go on some rides, maybe have a candyfloss or something, because he did enjoy those. When he got down to the carnival, the first thing he heard was Liz's recognisable laugh, and then he looked around, and he immediately spotted Sharpay with the girls. It seemed like, they were having a bunch of fun, and they were watching Liz trying to eat an oversized icecream, while laughing and cheering her on.

Liz did end up finishing eating the icecream, but it wasn't surprising to anybody, that she hurled afterwards. Sharpay, Chase and Gabriella laughed, and Liz took it really well, laughing too, it didn't matter to her, that they had laughed at her hurling, because she was on the carnival's icecream hall of fame. 10 scoops or over got their picture taken and got on the icecream hall of fame, where Liz now proudly hung.

After that Chase had dragged away with Sharpay, and they were off to have a conversation, he had guessed, and then he watched for a little while, Liz begging Gabriella for another icecream, then a candyfloss, then a giant lollipop, then a giant candy pacifier, popcorn, chips, slushice, soda, a candyshell, a smoothie, and that's when Gabriella gave in, because a smoothie was basically healthy, and after that huge icecream Liz shouldn't be eating or drinking anything sweet for the rest of the year.

So that trip to the carnival hadn't made him overly excited, as he had hoped, and then he went home, because what reason had he to stay there, when it didn't do anything for him? Should he just sit there and sulk, because obviously his ex-girlfriend was fine without him, when she shouldn't be. He knew all his friends told him, that Sharpay had gotten her act together, that she had done all these things, but where was his prove? How could he be certain of that? She asked how to get him back, he had told her, and she hadn't done the one actual thing, he wanted from her, and he couldn't get over that fact, it made him keep dwelling, that they had broken up.

He was lying in his room, just staring into the air, he was very productive, as his father came into the room a little earlier, and saw that he was just lying there. He was very productive, his father was right, as he did a lot of thinking, and if that wasn't productive, he didn't know what was.

Thoughts were running through his head, he could hardly sort through them, though he tried his best. One of his thoughts was about Sharpay, had he done wrong by breaking up with her? He had only done it, because he thought, she cared about him so much, that she'd do whatever it took to get him back, but as far as he knew, she hadn't really done anything, so maybe it had been a mistake, now that he knew, he couldn't get her back. That she didn't want him back anymore.

But maybe it was for the better? She was someone he couldn't save, and like his mom had told him, he couldn't save everybody, even if he wanted to. He had always had the need to 'save' people in a weird way, he had even thought, he could've saved his sister way back then, if he totally trashed the guilty's car, even if his sister was already did, so that's what he did, but it didn't bring little Tynisha back, and that was the first time his mom had told him that. He couldn't save everybody.

What if he had looked at Sharpay all wrong, or what if he was looking at her all wrong now. She didn't need saving, maybe she needed guidance, maybe she needed help, even if she hated that word, but she didn't need saving. It made her sound like such a victim, and he knew she'd hate that, and he understood. So she wasn't a girl, he couldn't save, she was a girl, he couldn't help, and he had tried to much, it broke him down in the end.

That and the secret. What secret about Chad was it, that she had kept from him? It appeared they had been best friends, and they now were it again, but what had made Chad grown a grudge against her? That's what he did not get, and that's what Sharpay hadn't wanted to tell him, when they were together. It broke him down as well, and it drove him crazy now, that he couldn't figure it out.

Maybe that had started going out? Maybe they had figured out, that when they were best friends, they would be great as a couple, and then they tried it, and it didn't work out, and they broke up. It just didn't add up, because people broke up all the time, so why was Chad so angry with Sharpay, before they became friends again? Had she possibly cheated on him? No, that couldn't be it, Sharpay's brain didn't work that way, she was incapable of cheating, and then at 13. Ugh, why couldn't he figure it out? It bugged him so much, that he couldn't.

They got a visitor, Troy could hear the doorbell ring, and he could hear his dad open the door, and then he just heard muffled voices, that he couldn't make out lying there in his bed, but it wasn't like he cared anyways. It wasn't like he was gonna go down there, it wasn't like he was very conversational at the moment, so whoever it was, it didn't matter to him. It was probably Mr. Danforth, who was a great friend of his dad, not like that mattered.

Troy lied in his bed for another half hour, and then he felt his stomach rumble, telling him it was time to get something to eat. He wasn't in the mood to eat anything, but he got up from his bed anyways, because he practically hadn't had anything to eat that day, so it would probably be a wise choice to eat something now, so he walked out of his room, slamming the door behind him, and then he slowly went down the stairs.

As he went down the stairs, the muffled voices he had heard from upstairs became clearer, and he could almost make them out. There was a male voice, which was surely his father, and then there was a female voice, which couldn't belong to his mother, because she wasn't home that night, so it would be really weird, if it was. He recognized the voice though, and as he came further and further down the stairs, it became more able to identify, and as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he knew it was Sharpay's voice, and what the hell was she doing there?

He stood by the foot of the staircase and listened carefully to, what they were saying. It was eavesdropping, and he knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help it, once he'd learned, it was Sharpay's voice, he had heard going down the stairs, and it wasn't like they would ever know, he had been eavesdropping anyways.

"I just don't think, he's heard it yet." He heard Sharpay tell his father, and then she sighed, and he could hear the desperation in both her voice and in that sigh, she had just let out. What was she so desperate about? "Or that's Chad's theory anyways, and I choose to believe it, because the only other option hurts to think about, so that has to be it. Maybe he doesn't wanna listen to it, because it's me?"

"Yeah, Chad told me about that theory of his during practise today, and I think it's very likely." He heard his father's voice, soothing and calm in a way that he rarely heard it in, but that was obviously what Sharpay needed at that point. Still, why had she come to his dad? "That may also be the explanation to why, he's been so sad lately, because he hasn't heard it yet. He thinks you've given up or something, but don't worry, I'll make him listen to it somehow."

"Thanks, for everything, but I better get going now. It's getting late." Sharpay's voice announced, and then he some noises, which was probably them getting up from the couches, and then he heard them moving around in the livingroom, and then he heard them walking out towards him, so he hurried to jump up a few steps of the stairs, and then he walked down the stairs, acting like he was just on his way down, as his father followed Sharpay out, and then they noticed him.

"Hi Sharpay, what are you doing here?" Troy questioned, acting like he'd just gotten down there, as he came face to face with his ex-girlfriend and his father, and silently Jack backed into the livingroom, feeling it would be best to leave the two kids alone to talk. Now it was just the two of them, though Troy's dad was probably able to hear the conversation from the other room.

"I was here to talk to your dad." Sharpay replied, nervously starting to fidget with a ring she had on her finger, she always fidgetted when she was nervous. She looked down upon her feet, trying to avoid eyecontact with him, but she could feel his eyes on her, and they forced her to look into his eyes again. "I figured you wouldn't talk to me, and I had to talk to someone close to you."

Troy stared at her, and then without knowing why, he flipped out. "I can't believe, that you have the nerve showing up here." He yelled, and Sharpay was taken aback by his outburst, and tears formed in her eyes, he took a step closer to her and continued yelling. "When we were going out, all I heard was how big a jerk Chad was, and now you're running around with him like nothing, and I don't know why. Not only that, but you're stomping all over my emotions. I thought you cared, but you seem fine without me, I thought you'd get your act together, but obviously..."

"What the hell is your problem?" Sharpay wanted to know, as she cut him off. Her voice was raised as well, and she was looking furious with tears in her eyes, she was gonna fight back. "I have done everything, and you say I don't care? I have boundaries, more boundaries than regular people, and I've crossed almost every one of them, because that's what you wanted from me. What else do you want?"

"The only thing you haven't given to me." Troy shouted, and then he threw his arms up in the air, like he didn't know what to do with her, and then he turned around and walked into the hallways, and she followed after him, getting madder by the minute. "I want you to say, that you'd rather be special, that way I can be sure, that the rumours are true, and that you've stopped feeling sorry for yourself."

"You obviously haven't heard it, but it doesn't matter to me, because your words, Troy, they hurt." Sharpay told him, and then she turned around for a few seconds, before she faced him again. She wanted to slap him, she wanted to let him know, how angry she was, how wrong he was. "I've never felt sorry for myself, but I've hated the person I was, and there is a great distance. You've got nothing, than the same broken record, and you're wrong, because I have done everything. Was there anything else?" Sharpay asked him angrily, and then she grabbed her summer jacket from the hanger, and she put it on. "Before I go?"

"Yeah, your stupid secrets." He screamed into her face, and then he ripped the door open, so she could leave faster, when their shouting match was done. "You claim to have done everything, and that's fine, but throughout our relationship I've practically begged you to tell me, what the deal between you and Chad was, but you wouldn't tell me. That's another reason why, we can't be together."

"I hate you, Troy Bolton." Sharpay announced to him, and then she walked straight past him, and once outside she turned around to face him again, the fury still in her eyes. "As for me and Chad, it's the same old story. We were 13, which was when I found out about my handicap, and I thought nobody wanted to be my friend, once they found out, especially Chad, so that's why I decided to ditch them all, before they ditched me. I simply told me, I didn't want to be his friend anymore. There you have it, have a nice life." She paused, and then she sighed, calming herself down, and then she told him softly, and barely audible. "I don't know why, you just started yelling at me, and I don't know why, you are so angry, but have done everything for us, I truly have, and you would know that, if you ever checked your messages on your cell."

Troy was about to open his mouth and say something, but Sharpay had already turned her back to him, and she was now crossing their lawn, she was heading home. Troy slammed his door shut, and then he came face to face with his father, who stood there, shaking his head at his son with much disappointment, because he thought Troy handled it all wrong.

Jack walked into the livingroom again, and Troy followed, forgetting about his hunger. "I'm sorry, dad, but I think I was being nice, especially considering what I have bottled up inside." Troy told his dad, but he didn't reply right away, he just looked at him with emotionless eyes, as he sat down on the couch. Troy sat down next to him and let out a deep sigh. "I wanna be with her so bad, but I can't if she won't ever realize, that she's so special."

"Maybe you should listen to your voicemail." Jack suggested, without even looking at his son, and then he turned on the tv, he surfed the channels, and was quick to find one, where they sent basketball on. "It might put things into perspective... DEFENSE, GOT DAMN IT, DEFENSE!"

Troy thought it would be best to leave his dad alone, now that he watching a game. It was impossible to carry a conversation with him, when he was so into something like that, so he got up from the couch and walked upstairs, as he thought about the things, his dad had said. He should listen to his voicemail! He had heard that a lot of times that day, hadn't he? From Chad, from Sharpay, and now from his dad, maybe he should do it?

When he was back in his room, he raced over to his nightstand and grabbed his cellphone. He pressed the redbutton and held it down, turning his cellphone on again, and then he pressed in his pincode, and he was in. There was one new voice mail, and he wasn't surprised. He pressed listen.

He heard a lot of sobs, and he thought they would go on forever, so he was about to hang up, because he wasn't in the mood to hear someone crying on his phone, but he was glad he didn't, when he heard Sharpay's tearful voice on his voicemail; "I'd rather be special."

He almost cried, when he heard her say that. That's what she meant, when she said, she done everything. He had been so mean to her, because he thought she didn't care, and as he shoved the phone into his pocket, he made a decision to go and see Sharpay. He was gonna take her back, he wanted her back, if she wanted him still after their argument.

He rushed out of his room, almost forgetting to close the door behind him, and he ran down the stairs and out into the hallway, where he was quick to grab his jacket, which he threw on, and then he opened the front door and ran out to his car. He opened the door and got in, and then he drove off towards Sharpay, even if it wasn't that far.

**IRBS**

Liz sat on the floor of her room in a position, like she was meditating, with her dustbin between her legs, and her arms around it. She didn't feel so good, and she had been throwing up ever since she got home from the carnival, and it was probably because of that huge icecream, followed by that delicious blueberry smoothie. It had been more than her tiny body could handle, and now it was finding its way up.

It was probably a good thing, that Gabriella had refused to give her any of the other things, she demanded, because that would have been way too much, she shouldn't even have given her that smoothie, though it was good. Liz had felt sick to her stomach, once she was handed the smoothie, but she really wanted the smoothie, so she held it in, untill she was done with in, and then she had basically vomitted ever since. It was horrible.

When Chase and Sharpay had come back from their walk/talk, they had all agreed to go home, all due to Liz feeling so sick. 10 scoops, what was she thinking? How could she even contain all of that? People stared, and their eyes were popping out, all because a tiny girl like Liz could eat a whole icecream with 10 scoops, and she had gotten on the hall of fame, so it was kinda cool, even with her punishment being non-stop puking.

Someone knocked on the door to her room, but she didn't answer come in or anything, because then she could feel herself being sick again, and she placed her head in the dustbin, and she threw up, just as her mom peeked inside. Her mother scrunched her nose at the disgusting vomit smell, but she went inside nonetheless, and closed the door behind herself.

"Elizabeth, honey. There's a gentleman here to see you." Mrs. Kincaid announced to her daughter, but Liz wasn't even paying attention, she just hugged the dustbin even closer to herself, and then she threw up again, and for once in her life her mother actually looked concerned, and then she added with a worried voice; "Do you want me to send him away, or should I tell him to come on in?"

"No, it's okay, mom. Just, just send him in." Liz managed to get out, before she threw up again. Normally Liz was very curious as to who it could be, but right now all her focus was on throwing up, and how uncomfortable it was. Why did her friends always let her follow through with, whatever stupid ideas that fell into her head. Never in a life should anybody ever again let Liz get her way, when it came to icecream.

Mrs. Kincaid nodded her head, as she mouthed okay, and then she walked out of the room, and closed the door behind her again. It took a long time, before someone finally came into the room, because her mother had to walk all the way downstairs, and then she had to tell the person, whoever it was, that it was okay to go up their, and said person would have to walk all the way up to her room and enter, so yeah it took minutes.

Liz heard her door open, as she threw up once more, and then she looked up to see who it was, and then she saw Chad standing there in her doorway, leaning up against it the side of it, he wasn't sure if he was allowed to really enter. When Liz's eyes met his, he smiled at her, and when he really wanted it, his smile was so infectious, and she couldn't help but smile back, even if she didn't want to.

Chad took that as his cue, and he entered the room, closing the door behind him. He took slow and careful steps, waiting for Liz to yell get out or something like that any minute, but she didn't, and his step became a little quicker, and it wasn't long untill he stood right in front of her, and she looked up into his eyes with her own sick ones, and he knelt down in front of her, so they were on exact eyelevel.

"What are you doing here, Chad?" Liz asked, with such a weak voice, that it hurt Chad, and he just wanted to wrap his arms around her, and make her feel better, but he knew that he couldn't. Liz bent her head down and threw up again, and Chad wondered what had made her sick like that. "As you can see, or smell, this is not the best time."

"I just wanna talk about us." Chad replied, truthfully, as he reached out a hand, and gently stroke the tiny girl's cheek, but she turned her head, so he couldn't, and then she threw up again, and this time so much that it made her cry. He wanted to dry her tears away, but again she wouldn't let him, and it truly hurt his feelings.

"There is no us, there never was." Liz cried, and hugged the dustbin even closer, if that was at all possible, like it could protect her from him or something, because she felt like, she needed protection, her heart needed protection. Love was a messy business, and she should have never let her heart get involved, it had heard her. "There never will be either. You lied to me, and you schemed against my best friend, and that's something I can never forgive."

"Whatever happened to you?" Chad wanted to know, thinking that he couldn't even recognize her. Where was his fun-loving Lilee? It wasn't her, it wasn't the girl before him, she and Liz were nothing alike, it was like she was broken, because she was so bitter, and Chad just wanted the old Liz back. "What happened to 'bright and shiny Lilee', as Chase refered you as?"

"You broke her! Are you happy? You broke me! This is what your scheming did for you." Liz told him off with a raised voice, as much as she could raise it anyways, due to her being ill. She shot him the meanest look, that Liz could muster, though she could never pull it off, but it was interrupted, when she needed to throw up again. "It just goes to show, that you get what you deserve!" Chad was about to give a comeback, when Liz suddenly felt strength to stand up, and she did so, and then she raised her voice a little more. "And you wanna no the worst part? I actually cared about you? I cared so much, I had feelings for you, but obviously all that you do is break hearts."

"What is your problem, Lil? Sharpay has forgiven me, why can't you?" Chad questioned her, as he stood up as well, but unlike Liz his voice remained calm, and he didn't try to send the tiny girl any mean looks either, because he knew, if he let himself get too excited, than they'd never become good again. "I don't see why. I have feelings for you too."

"That's the problem, Chad. Had and have are two different things." Liz said, and then she felt a lump of vomit creep up her throat, but she swallowed it, because she didn't want his sympathy by throwing up. She didn't need anything from him, why couldn't he just understand it? She loved him, but she wanted him to go away, because all that he had done. "Anyways, I'm not like Chase, I can't forgive and forget in the blink of an eye, and unlike her I tend to trust the wrong people, and I get burnt. I can never forgive you."

"I can make things up to you, if you'd just let me. I swear to you, I can." Chad tried to make a promise, but Liz turned her head away, as she didn't wanna listen to him. Chad didn't want that, so he grasped her face in his hand and made her look at him, but she still refused to look at him, so even though she was facing him, her eyes looked downwards to the floor. "Anything you want me to do, I'll do it."

Liz let a tears fall down her cheek, and Chad wiped it away with his thumb. She wanted to fall to her knees and just cry, and she wanted to throw up, without worrying about what he thought of her, while she did it. She wanted him to go away, so that she could cry in private, but at the same time she wanted him to stay, because she knew, that if she got her 'way', and he went away for good, she'd never be silly Lilee again. She couldn't stop thinking, though, about how much he had lied, and how much wrong he had done, and she was turn, she couldn't... she needed to be alone.

"I want you let go of me, and I want you to get out of my room." She spoke in a surprisingly calm voice, seeing as the tears had begun flowing freely down her cheeks, and Chad immediately let go of her face, hurt by her words, and he took a step back, looking at her with watery eyes. "I hate you, Chad, for making me feel this way, and you can never make it right again. I believed you were good, because you were so good at faking, and I got feelings for you, but you proved to me, that I'm just a stupid girl, and you are a bastard."

"Maybe I lied to you, but I never faked who I was." Chad said, and he was getting desperate with her. He wanted her to forgive him already, and he wanted her to be Lil again, and he just wanted her in his arms. He wanted her, but she was too damn stubborn, he wanted to grab her and kiss just to make her change her mind. "I am the Chad you got to know, and I love you."

"I don't give a..."

That's all she got to say, before Chad cut her off by kissing her, and she forgot about being mad. She forgot about everything, about all the wrong he had done, and she wrapped her small, fragile arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, and he had his strong arms around her waist. He was happy, that she hadn't pushed him away, when he kissed her, and he didn't even mind the taste of vomit in her mouth, as he continued to kiss her. It was like that kiss between them had cured Liz, because she no longer felt sick.

**IRBS**

When Sharpay arrived home, she slammed the door behind her with so much force, that it almost made the entire house shake, and her mom rushed into the hallway with a concerned look upon her face, but Sharpay didn't care, she just brushed straight past her, and ran up to her room. She slammed that door too, the aftershake even grander than the one before.

She threw herself on the bed, and began to cry. She didn't understand why, Troy had blown up at her like that, and the things he had said, they were totally outrageous. How could he say, that she seemed fine without him? He should know, that she wasn't fine, she was far from fine, and that's why she'd done all those things for them, but he didn't know, and he obviously didn't care either.

Beebob was on the floor, she could see out of the corner of her eye, and then she reached out her arm, and grabbed the bee from the floor, and she brought it into her, hugging it close for comfort. Why did she ever listen to Chase? It was her idea, that Sharpay should go to Troy's house and try to fix things, and when she got there, she got to talking with Jack, because she thought that would be easier, and then Troy came down and blew up. Chase didn't know anything with her perfect relationship to Zeke.

Now she almost couldn't wait to start on her new school, so she could get the hell away from Troy and never see his face again. She loved him so much, why should it be that hard to get him back, and when she thought, she'd actually succeed, he went and destroyed everything, claiming all sorts of things, but he had no clue whatsoever about anything.

She heard a knock on the door, after having been home for 10 minutes, and she thought go away, because she obviously wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody after her fight with Troy, but she didn't say it out loud. Instead she said; "What are you waiting for, the door isn't gonna open itself, y'know."

The door was opened, and in stepped Troy, and he carefully closed the door behind himself, because he knew Sharpay prefered it closed. Sharpay immediately got up from her bed, and watched him with piercing angry eyes, her arms folded across her chest, Beebob caught in between. Troy seemed to ignore the look on her face, and he stepped closer to her.

"I am so, so sorry." Troy said, as he took the final step, so he stood completely in front of her, and she softened up a little bit, and let her arms fall, when it sounded like, he had come with peace. "I had no idea. I honestly didn't, I just heard the message 5 minutes ago, and then I rushed here to smooth things out." He paused and smiled at her, and she let out a small laugh, so happy that he'd finally heard the message, and he realized all she'd done. "Now I know what you meant, when you said you've done everything, and you have. You've even told me about you and Chad."

Sharpay sighed, and then she threw Beebob on the bed, as she didn't need her comforting anymore, everything was fine now, it appeared. Her eyes watered a little bit, and then she began to speak; "I'm so happy to hear you say that. But I don't ever wanna hear you say ever again, that I'm fine without you, because I never will be, I don't even know, how I got along without you before. It's like you complete me, and all I wanna do is be with you."

"I wanna be with you, too." Troy said with a smile, they were right there on their tippytoes, ready to reconsile, and he couldn't wait. He stepped a tiny step closer to her, now being as close as he could be, without touching her, because he knew she disliked physical contact. "And I wanna know the little things about you now, as well."

"The little things?" Sharpay wondered out loud, confused about what he meant, and she tilted her head to the side, watching him with her big brown eyes, still wanting to know what he meant about that. "What do you mean, the little things? You know the things, you need to know, don't you?"

"No, I for an example don't know, if you like christmas or your birthday better, which I think is important." Troy elaborated, and Sharpay nodded her head along, her mouth forming an O, when she finally got it, and Troy chuckled at how cute she looked right then and there. "I want to know, if you like romance movies, comedy or whatever. And then I want to know, if I can kiss you again?"

"You don't have to ask anymore." Sharpay then announced with a smile, and she had barely let the words escape her mouth, before reached his arm around her waist, and pulled her the remaining inch closer to him, and then he placed the most sweet, loving kiss on her lips, that he had ever given her, and she giggled through it. When they pulled apart, they both smiled even brighter, and then Sharpay added a reply to Troy's earlier questions. "Christmas and thriller/action, by the way."

Troy laughed, because it was never like Sharpay to let an unanswered question pass her by like that, and the way she answered it was just so cute, and then he pulled her in for a hug, and he held her tight for a long time, before he pulled away a little again, and he placed another sweet kiss on her lips. They were both unbelievably happy to be back together, and it turned out Sharpay wasn't fine with out him.

_Ta-daah :D. There you have it, chapter 14 done. It was supposed to have been done sunday, but I didn't have time, and then I promised myself to finish it monday, but then my brother convinced me to play a game with him, and I decided then tuesday, and that's today, and I've worked really hard. I hope you liked, and I hope you'll let me know, what you think? Hopefully you'll give me some good thoughts, especially about my first author's note. Anyways, this was it, and I'll work as fast as I can on the next chapter, plus I'll have the sneakpeek of The Lil & Chase Series done asap as well, so you can see, if that's something you wanna read as well. I hope you do decide to read it, when I begin to post it for real, because it's gonna be fun. Anyways, I gotta go now, so thanks for reading, and please review. You gotta fight for the very last dedication._

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_


	16. Christmas Special

_Hi again everybody :). First off, I wanna say I'm completely excited about the reviews I got from chapter 14, even if I thought it was too few, but after this sneakpeak of The Lil & Chase Series that I've promised you, you all get a second chance to review the previous chapter, plus this sneakpeak, that is if you want anyways. Anyways, I've been really looking forward to writing this, and you'll be introduced to a new character, who'll play an important role in the spin-off, once it's officially posted. So the new character is a little girl, I'm thinking 4 years, and her name is Cheryl, so if you've been awake while reading I'd Rather Be Special, you'll be able to guess who it is. Enough with my rambling, here is a Christmas Special; Christmas Carols off of the Lil & Chase Series. Enjoy :)._

_**Disclamer;**__ I actually own this, believe it or not, but I don't own HSM, which this spun off from ;b._

_**Dedication;**__ This Christmas Special is dedicated to the one and only __**Stessa**__, because she gave me the idea to this, and I love her so much, especially for this. We've been each others 'stalkers' for years, and she always supports me in whatever I write. She's the awesomest (and she needs to write more Troypay *hint*). We are both two crazy nutters, and I think that's why we get along so well. I once threatened her to drag her by the hair all the way to Australia as a punishment, because she wouldn't update a story, and there we adopted a baby kangaroo, Steve, who's now 2, and then we adopted another baby kangaroo, named Nadine, who's 1, and recently we adopted Koala twins, Presley and Piper, who are a couple of months. And yeah, we're crazy. Anyways, this is dedicated to her, because, yeah..._

**The Lil & Chase Series**

**Christmas Special; Christmas Carols.**

Chase was standing in the kitchen of her and Liz's apartment, putting christmas cookies on a plate, that she couldn't wait to eat. She opened the cupboard, and placed the box of cookies back in there, she stuffed a cookie in her mouth, and then she closed the cupboard again, just as a knock on the door was heard. She left the kitchen to go open the door to see, whoever was at it.

While Chase was out opening the door, Liz entered the kitchen, originally going to get something to drink, but when she saw the christmas cookies lying on a plate on the kitchen table, she couldn't help herself. She glanced around to see, if Chase was nearby, because she figured Chase had probably set them for herself, and she'd be mad if someone else ate them, and Liz snuck the first cookie into her mouth, followed by the next, the next, the next and so on, untill the plate was completely empty.

Liz nervously bit her thumbnail, when she saw the empty plate on the kitchen table. She was only meant to take a few, but when it came to sweets and such, she just couldn't help herself. Chase was gonna be so mad, but Liz figured her best friend didn't have to know, so she quickly grabbed a glass of milk, that she had come for in the first place, and then she hurried back into the livingroom, where she was watching christmas cartoons.

The cartoon where Donald Duck repeatedly ruins his nephews snowmen was on, and even though Liz had watched it a thousand times, she always laughed at it. Donald had just glided into the big stone, disguised as a snowman, when Liz heard the door close, but she didn't look away from the screen, because now came the best part, and she thought it was just Chase coming back in alone.

"Auntie Lilee, auntie Lilee." A little lightbrown haired, brown eyed girl squealed, as she came racing into the livingroom, and jumped onto the Liz's lap. "I've missed you so much." The little girl leaned in and gave Liz a giant hug, which made the tiny woman look away from the screen down on the little girl. "I've made a christmas present for you in kindergarten, but I'm not allowed to give it to you. Only on christmas day, cos mommy and daddy says auntie Lilee is a naughty girl, and you'll open it before christmas. You're not supposed to do that."

Liz wrapped her arms around the little girl, and giggled into her long, soft hair, and then she spoke quietly; "No, you're right, little Cheryl, I'm not supposed to do that. And I won't do that, either, but it's good thinking from your mommy and daddy, they're very smart people."

"Daddy also say to mommy..." Cheryl continued, as Chase appeared in the door to the livingroom, where she leaned up against the frame, smiling at the little truthful girl in Liz's lap. "... that auntie Lilee was stupid to turn down uncle Chad's pro-pro-proposal 3 years ago. Mommy says daddy has a hard time letting things go, just like Uncle Chad. They also say, that if I told that to you, santa wouldn't come, and... oops."

"Don't worry, Cheryl." Chase said from the doorway, and then she stepped properly into the room, and walked over to the couch and sat down. "We won't tell mommy and daddy, and santa will come, but then you have to promise us, you'll try and think before you speak next time."

"Oh, my God, Chase! You can't say things like that to a 4 year old girl."

"Well, Lil, she has to learn it someday, and we can't begin to tell it to her, when she's 16, like we did with Sharpay."

"Yeah, but she's not like Sharpay." Liz argued, wrapping her arms around Cheryl, like that would prove her point. "To start with, Sharpay is blonde, and Cheryl has lightbrown hair, and Cheryl, as far as we know, doesn't have Sharpay's thing."

"But Santa will come?" Cheryl interrupted a conversation, that she didn't understand very much of in the first place, and she looked first at Chase with big eyes, and then she twisted her head to look at Liz with big eyes.

"Santa will come." Chase confirmed, and then both she and Liz giggled at Cheryl's cuteness. Chase giggled, because Cheryl was so little and still believed in Santa, but Liz was another story, as she still believed in Santa herself.

Cheryl looked at Liz again with her big brown eyes, she had a pout on her face. "Won't you sing a christmas song for me?" The little girl asked, and Liz broke into a smile again, hugging the girl close once more. "You always sing for me."

"Of course, I'll sing for you." Liz replied, cheerfully, and then she put the thinking cap on, and it had to go fast, as she always made up the songs, she sang for little Cheryl. "Uhm, let's see...

_Outside it's very windy  
So Santa hurries down the chimney_

_Santa gets stuck, cos he's fat_

_And seriously, what's up with that?"_

Cheryl let out a cute little laugh, and Liz smiled proudly at the outcome of her christmas song. Liz, even though not related, was Cheryl's favorite aunt, and Chase came in as a close second. Liz hugged Cheryl close again, and some might think she'd end up squeezing the life out of the little girl, but she just loved her so much.

"That had nothing to do with christmas!" Chase exclaimed, interrupting the sweet moment before. She stared at her best friend, like she had completely lost it, a way she had looked at her friend many times before, and then she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I mentioned Santa!" Liz defended in a high pitched voice, and Cheryl nodded her cute little head, being like always on Liz's side, whenever there was a silly argument between Chase and Liz. Then she continued in a 'geez, relax' kind of way; "Who ate your christmas cookies?"

Realization dawned on Chase, her eyes widened. "You did!" She said, and Liz wore a teasing smile upon her face, making Chase faintly upset with her for eating her christmas cookies.

"Oopsie." Liz offered as an apology, and then she tried to look all innocent, but Chase had had many years of practise with that face.

"New song, please?" Cheryl requested, just as Chase was about to open her mouth and say something to Liz, and then she looked from one girl to another with her cute puppy-dog eyes, that even though she was only 4 years old, she'd already learned, they couldn't resist those.

Liz quickly agreed, and she looked at Chase with smiling eyes, and then she exclaimed; "Chase's turn."

Cheryl smiled brightly at Liz's request, she couldn't wait for Chase to make up a song for her, which she expected her to do, because that's what Liz had done, so obviously Chase would do the same. With wide grins they looked at Chase with much anticipation, just waiting for her to start singing.

Chase began singing;

_"You better watch out_

_You better not pout_

_You better not cry_

_I'm telling you why_

_Santa Claus is coming to town."_

Chase was done singing, and Cheryl was disappointed, because she hadn't made it up herself. Cheryl looked up at Liz and said; "She didn't make that up."

"My Cheryl is a genius." Liz proudly stated, looking down on Cheryl with loving eyes, and then she looked up at Chase with a smirk on her face, and then she wrapped up the case. "You didn't make that up."

"Of course not." Chase giggled, because it was pretty obvious she hadn't made it up, and she hadn't grasped the problem with that yet, she didn't know, what Cheryl had expected from her, and then she continued; "It's Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

"I made mine up, why didn't you make yours up?" Liz wanted to know, and then she removed her arms from Cheryl to fold them across her chest, and then she tried to shoot Chase a disappointed look, but it didn't match her face or the high pitched voice, she had once again used.

"Why won't you make a song, auntie Chase?" Cheryl pouted, looking at Chase with big, sad eyes, and Chase now got it, but she couldn't make up songs like Liz, so she wasn't gonna try, though she still felt a little bad, she couldn't get Cheryl, what she wanted.

Liz sang her song again;

_"Outside it's very windy_

_So Santa hurries down the chimney_

_Santa gets stuck, cos he's fat_

_And seriously, what's up with that."_

Chase did the only thing, she could think of, she pointed an accusing finger at Liz and exclaimed; "You ate my cookies!"

"Let the cookies go, Chase." Liz said with a sigh, as she wrapped her arms around Cheryl again, and she got a weird smile on her lips, remembering the taste of the cookies, and then she got out of her daze. "Anyways, it was your fault. You shouldn't have left them alone, you know how I am."

Cheryl wrickled herself out of Liz's grasp, and then she jumped off of her lap, and ran off into Chase's room, where she knew, there was a box of dollies. Chase always had a box of dollies under her bed, ready for Cheryl to take out and play with.

"Yeah, I just don't get, how you can eat that many sweets and still be that tiny." Chase said, as she eyed Liz's petite body up and down, it was completely unfair, though Chase was basically the same, just not that much.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just... Put your name on them next time!" Liz exclaimed, and scrunched her nose, when she noticed the glass of milk on the table, that she'd forgotten to drink, it wouldn't taste good anymore. She looked at Chase and changed the subject. "How long are we watching Cheryl for?"

"I don't know. Not long, I think, they just had to buy her christmas present, and they'd be back to pick her up." Chase replied, as they heard little Cheryl let all the dollies dump to floor, and Chase made a face, knowing she would be picking them up later. "How did you make up that christmas song right on the spot? I can't do that."

"Brains and talent, baby, brains and talent." Liz announced with much pride, and then she rubbed her knockles off in her shirt, like she was rubbing a gold medal in making songs up. Chase shot Liz a look, that it wasn't a possibility, and she was probably right. "Fine, maybe not brains and talent, maybe just talent."

"Fine, we can agree on talent." Chase agreed, as Liz happily grabbed the remote and turned the tv back on, watching christmas cartoons, and Chase kept talking to her anyways. "Hey, do you think Cheryl will ever get siblings?"

"Totally, two girls and a boy."

"Why two girls and a boy?"

"Why not?"

"I'm asking you that?"

"No, you asked why. What do you think?"

"Two of each."

"Why two of each?"

"Because that's only fair." Chase reasoned her guess to Liz, because it was only fair, but Liz just looked at her all confused, and Chase sighed. "Two of each, because then the boys can play together, and the girl can play together."

"So you don't think the boy can play with the girls?" Liz questioned her best friend, raising a brow at her, and Chase merely shrugged her shoulders, so Liz stood up in protest. "That's it! I'm telling on you to Cheryl."

Liz raced off into Chase's room, where Cheryl was, and Chase just shook her head at her silly best friend, as it was obviously just an excuse to get into her room and play with Cheryl.

Chase laughed, and then she got comfortable in the couch, watching the cartoons, Liz had left behind. It was now a small clip of Bambi on ice, which was adorably cute in Chase's opinion, kind of like when Liz learned how to skate. Once in a while she heard Liz's christmas song being sung in her room.

_"Outside it's very windy_

_So Santa hurries down the chimney_

_Santa gets stuck, cos he's fat_

_And seriously, what's up with that?"_

Chase could also hear little Cheryl chorussing along to it, and Chase couldn't help but giggle at the thought of the little girl's father's reaction to the song, that 'auntie Lilee' had learned her. It wouldn't sit well with him.

Half an hour later a knock was heard on the door, and Chase turned off the television, and then she walked out into the hallway, where she opened the door and greeted whoever it was. Troy and Sharpay, Cheryl's parents, coming to pick her up.

"Lil, bring Cheryl out here." Chase yelled over her shoulder, hoping the message would get into her room, which it probably would, because it wasn't a very big apartment. "Her mom and dad are here to pick her up."

It took a few minutes, before Liz walked into the hallway, wearing a green elf hat, with little Cheryl on her hip, who was wearing a pink elf hat with glitter, that Liz had bought for her on a shopping trip earlier that month.

"Why is Cheryl wearing a pink elf hat?" Troy wanted to know, as Liz handed Cheryl to him with a smile, and as soon as the little girl was in her daddy's arms, she wrapped her tiny little arms around him, giving him a sweet hug.

"Well, smarties, I think the obvious answer is, because it's not blue." Liz said in all seriousness, and Sharpay had to cover her mouth not to laugh, and Chase had a hard time not laughing too, but she was a little more trained than Sharpay at that.

Troy stared oddly at Liz, and that's when Chase decided to speak; "Yeah, apparantly Lil has got both brains and talent today."

Sharpay laughed, and then she lovingly stroked her daughter's long, soft hair, as she spoke; "So did you have fun with you aunties today."

"Yes, mommy. Auntie Lilee learnt me a new song today." Cheryl told her mom with a big smile, and then she turned her head and smiled at Liz as well, whom she loved very much, and the 'Santa's Fat' song was now her favourite, just because Liz had made it up. "It's a christmas song."

"Okay, let's hear it." Sharpay requested, and she couldn't wait to hear, because even though she was only four years old, Cheryl had a pretty good voice, and Sharpay was a very proud mama.

And Cheryl sang all by herself;

_"Outside it's very windy_

_So Santa hurries down the chimney_

_Santa gets stuck, cos he's fat_

_And seriously, what's up with that?"_

"RUN, LIL, RUN!"

_Here you have it. That was the sneakpeak. It wasn't my best work, but was what I could managed during these busy days, and even though it was bad and not funny at all, I still hope you'll review this, and if you haven't reviewed the previous chapter, please do that as well. Thank you for reading, and have a very merry christmas, I hope you get everything you wished for, and if you don't celebrate christmas, then you must enjoy the time off :), so either was it's a win-win, isn't it? Anyways, merry christmas again, and please review._

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_


	17. I Was Right, She Is Special

_Hi everybody :). I wanna say thank you for the reviews I got, I loved them, even though it was only a few. And seriously, what's up with that? Was it that unbelievably suckish? Anyways, I don't wanna scold at you, so I'm gonna go on with this. So this is the very last chapter of this fic, which I promised would be posted before the new year, so I'm working my hardest, but I haven't really decided, how exactly this should go down yet. But I'm glad you all appreciated Troypay getting back together, obviously you would, why else would you be reading this fic if not for the Troypay? You also liked Chiz, which I'm glad about, though if you read the sneak peek of The Lil & Chase Series, you already know a little about what will happen with them. Anywho, on with the chapter. I present the very last chapter of I'd Rather Be Special, so here we go;_

_**Disclaimer;**__ Still don't own HSM :(._

_**Dedication; **__I'm dedicating this very last chapter to my girl __**Stessa**__, because at the very beginning of this story, I promised to reveal something about myself at the end of the fic. Stessa has known, what it is all along, and she's accepted me for who I am. She's been there for me through thick and thin, and she's not left my side, like I feared she would. But I love her for it, and trust in her completely, because she's kept it a secret, like she promised she would. That I trust her is a huge deal, because I never trust people. In fact, I don't even like getting to know people or having friends, because people always leave, so why bother? But she is my friend, and that's a big deal. I love her for always being there, and it's weird to me, but I hope we'll always be friends. Because of all of that, I'd like to not only dedicate this chapter to her but the entire fic as well. So this is all for you '__**Stessagøj**__'._

**I'd Rather Be Special**

**15. I Was Right, She is Special.**

Summer was officially over, and school was back on. It was a drag, especially since the classes had become a lot harder, now that they were going on their last year. What was getting Troy through the day, was that Sharpay had her first day at her new school the very same day, and he couldn't wait to hear all about it. He really hoped it all went well, Sharpay deserved a nice atmosphere at school, she deserved to be excited to go to school, which she'd never been before, because people had teased her severely due to her being different. He hoped it would be different for her at the new school.

So did all of them. Chad, Liz, Chase, Zeke, Gabriella and himself, they were all there for Sharpay, and they hoped her new school was right for her. It might not be 'WEEE' the first day, but anything would be better than the hell of going to a normal High School for her, or what the world defined as normal anyways. Normal was a stupid word, and people who used it were stupid, because what was normal anyways? He'd rather be special like Sharpay, than he wanted to be 'normal' as the world put it.

Sharpay had shorter days than them everyday at her new school, and she'd promised she'd stop by East High, once she was off to tell them all about her day. She had been there before to meet her teacher, classmates and to see the school, but that wasn't the same as actually going there, being there for an entire day. She had only gone to see the school, because her handicap did, she didn't like new things in her life, going new places, new experiences, so she wanted to prepare herself so everything wasn't so new.

They were all anticipating her arrival, which was long away, even if it was already lunch. Liz was giddy and excited, she couldn't wait, and when she was giddy and excited, she was kind of scary. All the tables in the cafeteria near theirs were empty, no one wanted to be near Liz, when she was like that, if they didn't know her. Friends of her simply found it amusing, and not scary at all.

"Lil, please calm down." Chase finally told her best friend, when enough was enough. Liz had been bouncy, telling them all kinds of crazy stories about, what might be going on at Sharpay's new school, and it was getting too much, she had been overgeared. "Sharpay won't get here sooner, if you act this way. And your conspiracy theories? I highly doubt, they eat buckets of ice cream there, and it wasn't there, she got the idea for the 10 scoops ice cream from. So calm down."

"Maybe she's still hungover from the ice cream?" Gabriella proposed, stuffing a forkful of salad into her mouth, as she watched her friend across from her fold her arms in offense. When Gabriella was done chewing her salad, she leaned in towards Troy and whispered; "She threw up the entire afternoon, she even puked a little in Chad's mouth."

Troy covered his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up at the thought, luckily he was done eating his lunch, otherwise he wouldn't want anymore of his food after that information. That was probably why, Gabriella had chosen to give that information to him, because he was the only one done eating, so she wouldn't be ruining his lunch.

"Ice cream she ate in june?" Troy questioned, as he scooted an inch away from Gabriella. He knew by 'hungover' they meant 'high', which you'd be from the sugar rush, but was impossible to be it for that long, that was for sure. She was surely just being Liz. "I don't think so, that not possible."

"It's Lil." Chase simply stated, as if it explained everything, and then she took a bite of her sandwich. It was tuna with pickles, tomato and salad, which was her favourite. She covered her mouth, so they couldn't see, what she had in it, as she continued; "She doesn't need a reason to be spacey, that's just who she is. But let's try not to focus so much on Sharpay, and the day will go a lot faster?"

"I second that. Sharpay would only get mad, if she knew." Chad quickly agreed, holding Liz's hand underneath the table (it sometimes had the ability to calm her down). With his other hand he grabbed a nacho and ate it. He loved nachos, so he looked grumpily at the hand that dived in and took one. "Hey, keep your hand of my nahos, ya little thief."

"Is that a way to talk to your girlfriend?" Liz wanted to know, as Chad looked up at her, and discovered she was the nacho thief, and she teasefully stuffed the nacho into her mouth. "Chase and Gabriella have banned me from sweets, so I must take what I can get of related thing. Nacho is a chips, and chips are related to sweets, even if it's junkfood."

"That's stupid logic!" Chad told her, as he rolled his eyes. He took a nacho and stuffed it into his mouth, he was now set on eating them and fast, so Liz wouldn't be able to have anymore. Not that he didn't want to share with his girlfriend, just not his nachos. "It doesn't even make sense."

"So does your face!" Liz said, being dead serious. She reached out and quickly grabbed a nacho, before Chad had time to shove her arm away, and victoriously she ate the nacho. Chad watched her with big eyes, and when she was done, she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh, my God! This is so like kindergarten!" Zeke exclaimed, putting his head down on the cafeteria table, and then he covered it with his arms. They were unbelievable, they were supposed to be senious, and then they were behaving like that, it was embarrassing. He groaned, and then he went back to sitting normally. "Do you have any idea, how annoying it is listening to unserious topics everyday? How about acting your age for once, and we'll have an actually conversation. Is that too much to ask?"

"Zeke!" Chase whisper-shouted, slamming a flat hand onto the table, making everybody else but Zeke jump a little into the air, as they got surprised. She shot him a stern look, because they all knew what school was like, and lunch was pretty much the only time, they could vent from it, untill they went home. "Let them have their banter, it's not like it's all the time."

"No, maybe not, but it's every damn day, and I'm getting tired of it." Zeke argued, making the people by the table even more surprised, than they were before. They weren't used to Zeke like this, and they definitely weren't used to seeing Zeke and Chase argue. Perhaps senior year, on its first day, was already taking its toll? "Normally I could just walk away, when it became too unserious, but I'm chained to it because of you."

"So are you tired of unserious discussion in the group, or are you tired of me?" Chase questioned with a fierce look in her piercing ice blue eyes. She pushed herself away from the table, and then she spun around in her seat, and finally she stood up and got ready to leave. She looked at Zeke one last time, tears forming in her eyes. "Just know I've sacrificed a lot for you, the least you can do is accept my friends, but I guess that's too much to ask!"

Chase turned around, and then she hurried out of the cafeteria, stomping her feet all the way. Liz gulped, as she knew 'friends' actually meant her. She knew, she wasn't the brightest star in the sky, but she thought all her friends accepted her for it. Troy shook his head, because their 'argument' was so silly, but yet he was smiling, as it was nice to see, that Chase could be other things than mothery and kind. Gabriella casually looked away from the scene, she wasn't big on conflicts, even if she often found herself in them. Chad subconsciously put his arm Liz's tiny waste, because he had sensed the same thing as his girlfriend, as he was Zeke's friend before they all melted together as a group.

Zeke watched his girlfriend leave, and when she was gone, he kept staring at where she'd disappeared. He did even flinch or turn around, when he heard an insecure voice behind him say; "I think, you should go after her." He already knew it to be Liz's soft voice, but it took a couple of minutes, before he comprehended, what she'd said. He decided, she was right, and he quickly got up and chased after Chase.

"Hopefully that'll be all the drama for today." Gabriella breathed out a sigh of relief, that Zeke had gone after Chase, and the tension around the table was now gone. Both Troy and Liz offered the latina a smile, as if to say that they agreed, which they did. Gabriella smiled back, glad they all agreed.

"Uhm, we all remember Sharpay is coming, right?" Chad questioned, and he quickly got burned by hard glass, who definitely didn't agree with him. He implied that with Sharpay coming, there'd be lots more drama, but they didn't think he was right. "I was only kidding, okay? She's not like that anymore, she's becoming more and more like the Shaggy I knew, which is awesome!"

As if on cue the doors to the cafeteria barged open, and Sharpay stepped in. She stood in the door for a while, scanning the cafeteria for her friends. She spotted them, and was about to walk over to them, when she noticed a guy staring intensely at her. "Yeah, this is what I look like on wednesdays, you got a problem with that?" The guy scattered, and she proceeded towards her friends.

Chad, Troy, Liz and Gabriella all stared at her coming towards them, extremely proud that she for once didn't seem bothered with all eyes being on her. She didn't seem to care, it even seemed like she enjoyed being in the spotlight, and by the way she told that guy off, Chad knew the old Sharpay was finally back.

"Yeah, I've got a problem with that." Chad said with a teaseful smirk, once Sharpay reached there table and sat down next to Troy, who gave her a peck on the lips. She raised a brow at her best friend, challenging him, and he carried on. "You look much better on fridays."

"Why fridays?" Liz chipped in, looking at Chad with puppy eyes. Sharpay couldn't help but giggle, they were so cute together, and she knew they were gonna be together for a long time. Liz questioningly raised her brows, but Chad didn't reply (he didn't know how), so she continued; "I mean, she looked beautiful last saturday. Why not go with saturdays?"

"Because they are kidding around, Lil." Troy explained, putting a big fat dot at the end, so there'd be no more of that. He looked at Sharpay and smiled, as he wondered, what she was doing there so early. He decided to question her about it. "Pay, not that it isn't wonderful to see you, but what are you doing her so early?"

"I got off early, because I'm awesome." Sharpay offered with a smile, but Troy shot her a stern look, telling her to be honest about it. She said, and then began to tell things as they were. "Okay, so not because I'm awesome. It was the first day of school after the summer, so there wasn't much to do there. We got off at lunch time, so I went straight here. I hope that's okay?"

"Of course." Gabriella said, admiring the way her blonde friend shone these days. She had completely changed for the better, she didn't even seem to be thinking about her handicap as that much of a struggle anymore. She had taken Gabriella's advice and accepted it, now she could live with it. Gabriella smiled, and decided to question her about her new school. "So how was it, your first day at school? Was it exciting?"

Sharpay reached over and grabbed a nacho from Chad, and he watched in disbelief, his mouth growing big. Why wouldn't anyone leave his stupid nachos alone that day? First Liz, now Sharpay. Of course he didn't dare say anything about it to his precious Shaggy, but he was still offended by it. Sharpay smiled, because she knew exactly what he was thinking, though she chose not to say anything about it, so she turned towards Gabriella to reply to her question.

"It was amazing. Not so much the school part, y'know, but the feeling you got from being there." Sharpay explained, and Gabriella nodded her head along to show, that she was listening carefully to each word. Troy put an arm around his girlfriend, as she continued to speak. "Here I was so used to everybody being the same, in the definition of no diagnosis, and I was the only one different. I was the freak, y'know. But there we're all the same, as in we all have a diagnosis, and it's amazing not being different in an uncomfortable way anymore. Now I'm just special, and I like that feeling, y'know."

"I'm so proud of you." Troy whispered only for Sharpay's ears, and she smiled sweetly at him. She was so thankful to him, to everybody really, they were all part of the place, she was in today. She liked new/old Sharpay, and it was thanks to them mostly. Troy kissed Sharpay's cheak, and then he spoke so everybody at the table could hear. "I think we should all celebrate Sharpay's arrival with one of Chad's nachos."

Chad gasped, as he grasped after his nachos, but he was being too eager and fast, that he accidently knocked them on the floor. He banged his head against the table and screamed out; "NOOOOOOOO! MY NACHOS. THEY'RE DEAD, GONE FOREVER."

"That's what happens, when you won't share." Liz said with her rare 'know it all' voice, kicking the nachos away from the table, hoping someone would slip in them, so they could have a good laugh. No one did, so she put her focus back on the people at the table, as she said. "You know how in cartoons and movies, sometimes someone slips in a banana? That never happens in real life. I mean, I know it was nachos, but still... someone could have slipped for itty bitty Lilee, y'know?"

"I'd slip for you, silly Lilee, but I'm wearing white." Sharpay offered the tiny girl a smile, which was returned. Everybody was smiling actually, except for Chad who was pouting over his nachos, and first then Sharpay noticed some people missing at the table. "Hey, where is Chase and her hang?"

Everybody at the table knew, that Chase's 'hang' was Zeke. They were always together, and she used to ditch people for him, you could almost never find some alone time with Chase anymore, it was kind of annoying. Basically everybody knew, that they were in love, but they needed to find a line at how much time, they should spend together. Chad and Liz were in love, but they weren't together constantly, and the deal was the same with Troypay, they were together often but not constantly.

"They are having a rare thing called an argument." Gabriella replied, as she finally became done eating. She pushed her plate away and let out a content sigh, and then she was back at Sharpay shortly after, continuing her speech. "I'm actually surprised, you didn't run into them. They fled few minutes before you came."

Sharpay was surprised as well, but when they were off arguing, no need wasting time talking about them. She briefly glanced at the watch on Troy's wrist, seeing only 5 minutes were left of their lunch break, and she had to be off soon. She couldn't very well be there, when classes started again, so she had to be quick about this.

"Hey, so you've got 5 minutes left. How about we make some plans?" Sharpay suggested, and they all quickly agreed, so she fastly made a decision as to what the plans could be, and once and if they agreed, she'd be off. "What do you say we meet at the mall after school? We can test how much I've changed, we can even go by the bus. Wouldn't that be fun?"

They exchanged looks at the table, seeing each other off what they thought. It took a couple of minutes, before they had all agreed with their eyes, and someone replied, that someone being Liz. "I guess it would be fun, if you say so. Are you sure, you wanna do this?"

"I'm possitive." Sharpay said, nodding her head. She removed Troy's arm from herself, and then she spun around in her seat and got up, ready to leave. She bent down and kissed Troy on the cheek, and before she left, she added; "Make sure the married couple will be there." And then she was off.

Liz looked at everybody at the table, and said as if they didn't already know; "That was Sharpay Evans, you guys."

**IRBS**

As soon as the last bell ran, and every student at East High was off, the gang ran to the parking lot as fast as they could. They all squeezed themselves into Chad's car, as it was the biggest out of the other's, and as always he was parked in the far end. Sharpay had named his car 'The Mystery Bus', so now Chad had gotten the habit of announcing it like that, when others were to ride with it.

Before everybody had squeezed into the car, they had worked out a game plan of who was sitting where. Zeke sat in the passenger seat next to Chad, as he was the biggest out of all of them, and if he was to sit in the backseat, it would have meant less room. Troy sat in the seat behind Zeke, and Gabriella sat next to him, and next to her sat Liz, and in the back behind Chad (far away from Zeke) sat Chase.

It probably wasn't legal, their seating arrangement, but they all had to be there, so it had to be. Nobody in the back could move, both Chase and Troy were pressed up against their seperate windows, even if neither Liz, Gabriella or Chase were that big. Gabriella and Liz sat so close up against each, that one was almost on top of the other, and they were just thankful, that the ride to Sharpay wouldn't be that long.

"Is everybody buckled in?" Chad yelled to everybody in the back, sounding clearly amused with the seating arrangements and their agony. He priced himself lucky, that it was his car, and he would be driving. He could see in the rearview mirror, that Gabriella shot him a very unhappy look, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Chad, I really think, you should start working more on your math." Gabriella told him through gritted teeth, obviously the least happy by sitting so pressed up against each other on the backseat. If she could move her arms, she would have slapped him for sure. "4 people and 3 seatbelt, what the hell does that tell you? Of course we're not buckled in. Plus, this is dangerous! What if you hit something, and we go out of the window, because we were unable to buckle ourselves in?"

"Readjust your tampon, Gabs." Chad simply said, as he got ready to place the key in the ignition, ready to start the car. He and Gabriella hadn't been fans of each other in the past, but now they were becoming really great friends, though they still very much enjoyed teasing each other. "If I did hit something, which I won't due to my amazing driving skills, you wouldn't go anywhere. You're so stuck, that none of you will be able to move, before either Zeke or myself opens one of the doors to the backseat. You happy?"

"No, I'm not happy!" Gabriella shrieked, wanting to slap Chad across the back of his head so bad. They were as mentioned earlier unable to move, so she couldn't, but she swore to herself she would slap him silly, once she got out of this ridiculous situation. "I'd rather take the bus than be stuck here!"

"Oh, good news, Gabby!" Liz cheered, not having sensed the situation very well. She was her bright and shiny self, not sensing the seriousness of any situation, always happy and cheery, silly Lileee. Gabriella looked to her side and shot Liz a look, that clearly said 'not now', but as often Liz didn't sense it. "We're going to take the bus today."

"Uhm, not to tense things up even more, but technically we're already in a bus." Troy chipped in with a low voice, as he had sensed the situation. Even if Chad was just having some fun with Gabriella, the latina clearly wasn't amused, and Troy knew that his comment could possibly make things worse. Gabriella shot him a nasty look, so he quickly defended himself. "Technically. I mean, Chad's car is called 'The Mystery Bus', so technically we're already on a bus."

"Can't we just get moving for crying out loud?" Zeke screamed, as he turned around to face everybody in the back with fierce, angry eyes. They all shut up immediately, nobody dared to say a word with the mood Zeke was in, it clearly wasn't his day that day. He was like a bear being poked, kinda scary.

"Maybe Zeke should readjust his tampon?" Liz said with a big smile upon her face, once again not grasping the situation. Everybody thought 'oh, my God. Liz, no', but nobody said anything, still afraid Zeke would snap if they did. Liz felt someone pushing her, so she looked to her side and saw Chase staring at her with a sad expression on her face. Chase was unable to move like everybody else, but she had still managed to give Liz a little push.

"Not now, Lil." Chase told her best friend in a low and caring voice, like when you lectured a little child about, what she should or shouldn't say in any giving situation. Chase's voice was so low and weak as she spoke, that all the natural husk in it completely went away. Maybe Liz couldn't sense situations, but she could sense her best friend was sad. Chase looked pleadingly at Chad. "Can't we please just get moving, before we get to things we'll regret."

Chad nodded his head, the curls bobbing, as he finally placed the key in the ignition, he twisted it around and started the car. He pulled out of the driveway and drove off towards Sharpay's house, which he knew the way to by heart. It was a drive of 10 minutes, and he just hoped everybody would survive, and nobody would be in each other's hair anymore.

"Why are you so tense today, man?" He decided to question Zeke about his behaviour, so they all could get to the buttom of this. He got no reply, as Zeke merely shrugged his shoulder, not very talkative, but whatever Chad was gonna get him to talk. "Seriously, dude, you're not usually like this? Scaring people off, so what's up?"

"It's just awesome, when people remember how long they've been with someone." Zeke said with heavy irony in his voice, his remark clearly aimed at Chase, even Liz sensed it. He looked at everyone in the backseat again and shot Chase the angriest look, that had ever featured his face, and then he added; "I mean, it really makes it worthwhile being in a relationship."

"Yeah, Zeke has the illusion, that we've been together for 5 months precisely today, and he's mad because he thinks I forgot." Chase explained everybody her side of the story, if she could she would have crossed her arms, because Zeke made her that upset right now. She remembered perfectly, how long they'd been together for, and it wasn't 5 months as he claimed. "We haven't been together for 5 months, we've only been together for 4½. Even if we had been together for 5, nobody celebrates 5 months."

"I thought we would, but obviously I don't matter to you." Zeke said, looking away from Chase with hurt look on his face. He stared out the window instead, watching all the houses, trees and whatever passing by, and finally recognising some houses from Sharpay's street. They were nearly there, and they'd all be able to get out of the car.

"I can't believe, you think that, Zeke. I love you, you should know that." Chase said, on the verge of crying. That Liz could sense, and she somehow managed to get an arm free, which she placed around Chase's shoulder trying to comfort her. "If you think things like that, then what are we even doing?"

"We're here." Chad announced, as he pulled up into the driveway of Sharpay's house. He interrupted Zeke, who was about to say something, but at the sound of Chad's words he got out of the car instead. Chad let out a deep sigh, as he opened the door to his side of the car, and before he got out, he said; "What a lovely day."

He opened the door to Chase's side, and she quickly leaped out of the car, followed by a much slower Liz. Chad linked his hand with Liz, and when everybody was out of the car, they all walked up to Sharpay's house to knock on her frontdoor. Liz knocked, Chad knocked, Liz knocked again, and then Chad knocked for the last time on the door.

As they waited for Sharpay to answer the door, Troy slowly moved over to Zeke's side an whispered, so on Zeke could hear it; "Just so you know, if Sharpay and I had never broken up, we would have been together for 4½ months today."

"Why are you telling me that?" Zeke questioned, whispering as well, so that only Troy could hear his voice. He looked at Troy with confused eyes, not getting how that had got to do with anything, or why he needed to know that?

"Because Sharpay and I got together the first time on the exact same date as you and Chase." Troy explained, as realization dawned on Zeke. He had been such a jerk, now he had to find a way to make things right with Chase again. Just then the door was opened, and Sharpay stepped out, and Troy rushed over and greeted her with a kiss. "Hey, sweetie. Here we all are, ready to our special Sharpay in action. You ready to go?"

"Yeah. What's with the tension?" Sharpay asked, as she stepped out of her house and closed the door behind. It was clear to her, that something had been going on the way there. Zeke and Chase weren't lovey-dovey, and everybody else were just as awkward but in a different way.

"We don't like the bus very much either." Troy made up as a cover story, though he knew Sharpay wouldn't buy it. There was no reason to make her upset by telling her, what had actually been going on, especially when she'd been so happy and strong lately. "Anyways, we should get going. The bus waits for no man."

Sharpay led the way down to the sidewalk, and when they reached it, she stopped to think. Everybody else stopped to, this was Sharpay's neighbourhood, so surely she knew where they were going? She glanced around, first to her right and then to her left, as she looked deep in thought. Chase got concerned, as she knew Sharpay hadn't been on the bus, since the last time they were at the mall all those years ago, so maybe Sharpay had forgotten where the bus stop was?

"Uhm, Shar, you do remember which way we're going, right?" Chase questioned, placing a gentle hand on Sharpay's shoulder. Sharpay looked at Chase and was about to open her mouth to reply, but they were cut off by their very own silly Lilee.

"Of course, she doesn't." Liz exclaimed and stared at them, like it was so obvious, and they were stupid not to know the answer in the first place. A quality that wouldn't be pretty on a lot of people, but with Liz it was so cute, because she usually was clueless. "It's been 4 freakin' years, take a few months, she has no chance in the world of knowing."

Chad was quick to agree with his girlfriend. "Yeah, Lil is right. Can't we just drive there?" He questioned, eager to drive 'The Mystery Bus' again. He was already on his heel, ready to turn around, but the hand he had linked with Liz stopped him from doing so.

Troy chuckled at the comic of it, especially the look Gabriella shot Chad, when he proposed squeezing back into the car again. Gabriella hadn't been happy with the seating arrangement then, and she probably wouldn't be this time around either with an extra person. It didn't sit well with Gabriella, that he chuckled at her facial expression, and she shot him a nasty look as well.

"It's around the corner, that much I know." Sharpay said, mostly to herself than to anybody else. She scratched the back of her head, and then she looked to her sides again, while trying to convince herself, that nothing was wrong with her for not being able to remember things well. "I just don't know which corner. It would really help, if I knew in which direction the mall was."

They all glanced expectantly at Gabriella, who hands down was the most shopaholic out of everybody in the group. Liz was a close second, but she never took notice of where the hell she was going, and Gabriella was way more organized. Next to Gabriella, Liz was a complete mess. Gabriella stared back at everybody, and when she saw Sharpay's pleading eyes on her, she couldn't reply quick enough.

"West." Gabriella replied as short and correct as possible, as she swung her arm of to her left, showing everybody where west was. Sharpay mouthed a thank you to her, and Gabriella softly whispered back a; "You're welcome."

Sharpay was about to start walking, but she'd already forgotten where she was going, so she looked at Gabriella again. Gabriella smiled, as she pointed to the left again, and Sharpay began walking to her left. She had only taken a few steps, when Troy came and lifted her up on his back, giving her a ride. Chad did the same for Liz, who squealed in excitement. The only ones walking by themselves were Chase, Gabriella and Zeke.

When the bus stop came into sight, Sharpay screamed with joy. She slapped Troy on the shoulder, like a whip on a horse, making him go faster. He ran as fast as he could with her on his back, and they were the first ones by the bus stop, where he let Sharpay down from his back. Chad and Liz came as second, but he dropped her right before the bus stop, because he was laughing so hard at Sharpay and Troy. Liz walked offended over to their side, as the rest joined the party.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Chase questioned Sharpay, as they had all been standing there for a few minutes, waiting in silence if you didn't count Liz's humming (Pretty Woman this time). Chase knew Sharpay had changed, but she was still worried, as it had been very traumatic and embarrassing for Sharpay to take the bus in the past.

"Chase, relax. I'll be fine, plus I have a month card, so I won't have to speak to any strangers. It's all good." Sharpay assured her worried friend, offering her a smile along with it. She wasn't as nervous about taking the bus, as she was with going to the mall, where there'd be so many strange people. Maybe she had changed much for the better, but she'd never stop finding it uncomfortable with that many people in the same place as her. "Anyways, nobody will even dare to speak with the looks, the people around me are presenting this afternoon."

Just then the bus arrived, and they all stepped inside. Some payed for the bus, others showed their month cards or whatever they had, and then they wandered to the back of the bus and seated themselves. Sharpay by the window, because she loved the window, and she had Troy next to her, who had Gabriella to his other side, who sat next to Zeke. Chad sat by Zeke's side, and to his other side sat Chase, who didn't wanna be next to Zeke at that point, and on his lap sat his girlfriend, Liz.

The bus drove off to the next stop, where a few people got in. It was like that for the next 5 stops as well, and there were starting to be a lot of people on the bus, making Sharpay uncomfortable and sweaty. Old thoughts entered her head; are they looking at me, what are they thinking about me, are they talking about me, can they tell I'm different? Thoughts she tried to push away, though they were a part her, she wasn't gonna let them control the things she did.

It took 10 stops over all, before they arrived at their destination; the mall. Sharpay was the first one out of the bus, she just had to get the hell out of there, otherwise she was gonna burst down. The rest followed out after much slower than Sharpay, and a few of them stared at her with questionable expressions across their faces, but Sharpay tried to cover up with a smile.

Liz squealed, when she saw the mall in all its glory, and she immediately sped inside. Gabriella shook her head at their silly friend, but still she couldn't resist the temptation, and she raced in after her. Zeke walked away as well, he had business to attend to inside of the mall, and it was very important. Chase suspiciously eyed Sharpay, because she had a strong feeling, that her friend definitely wasn't fine, but for now she let it slide. Chad had his goofy grin on, because it always seemed to help, plus he kept thinking about what trouble his girlfriend was in already. Troy stared at his girlfriend, his eyes asking her if she was okay, and Sharpay nodded her head as if to say yes.

"Okay, before we go inside to that horrible, horrible place, I have to make a speech." Chad announced, like he was this important dude, and the three others made a solid attempt not to laugh. Succesful for some, but Sharpay failed not to laugh. Chad smirked at her, and then he carried on talking; "Yeah, I'm talking to you, Shaggy. I want you all to remember, before we go inside, that Shaggy made me a promise once. She'll never ever step a foot into H&M, and if she does so this afternoon, if she should somehow be struck by insanity, we have to make up a proper punishment for her. Any propersitions?"

"I know she's especially ticklish behind the ear." Troy offered, while he grinned all over his face. Sharpay reached out and slapped him on his arm, it was mean that he revealed that about her, it had been a secret. Troy grabbed her around the waist and swung her around, untill she screamed for mercy.

"Fine, if she goes into H&M, we'll grab her by the arms and tickle her behind the ear." Chad agreed for all of them, and the he began his walk towards the place, he called hell. The three others followed, Troy and Sharpay walking hand in hand. "And don't go falling into her puppy dog eyes either of you, because we all know she has some mean one at those."

**IRBS**

When they were inside, Chase and Sharpay quickly found Gabriella and Liz due to the latina's... hmm, special voice. They were by a make-up parlour outside in the open, and they were talking to the make-up artists, who were there to grab random people and try the new make-up from their collection on them. If they had grabbed Gabriella and Liz from the crowd was uncertain.

As Chase and Sharpay neared their two friends, Sharpay noticed Liz battered her pretty, innocent eyes at them, and she knew her friend was trying to get her way with something. Luckily they had went their seperate ways from Troy and Chad once inside, they had gone to hang out with Zeke, so Chad didn't have to see his girlfriend in that situation. Chase and Sharpay shared a look, before they went all the way over to their friends.

It turned out Liz wasn't trying to get her own way, but she was trying to get them to give Gabriella a make over. Gabriella was trying to get Liz to stop her scheme, though it was clear the tiny girl wouldn't listen to anybody, as she was in the middle of getting her weird idea pushed through. Liz fluttered her eyes again, and Sharpay rolled her eyes, surely that wouldn't work?"

"I'm sorry about this, our friend is quite spacey. Whatever she said, she didn't know any better." Chase cut in almost as soon as they got there, and she shot both the make-up artists an apologetic look. She grabbed her friend by the arm, ready to drag her away from there in a walk of shame. "She just loves colours, make up and clothes, and she loves to tell her friends their colours. This is just another way to do so, we apologize."

The male make-up artist lifted up his hand and waved in a way, as if to say there was no need to apologize. "It's okay, we've found it very entertaining to speak to your friends." He explained to them, as he offered them a barely noticable smile, which was to be expected from a guy like him. "Actually, she knows a lot in this area, and she has amazing convincing skills. We're _this_ close to giving her friend a make over."

An ant could barely fit between the distance he had between his fingers, and Liz fluttered with her eyes again, as Chase let go of her arm as she did no harm to them. The female artist smiled an actual smile, and then she pulled out a make-up chair, one of those without backs that could spin around. She took Gabriella's hand and let her to the chair, and the latina sat down in it.

The male artist began doing Gabriella's eyes, pretending he ignored Liz's suggestions, but he still wound up picking those exact colours. Liz wasn't able to stand and watch, so she stepped into the zone and began messing with Gabriella's hair, pulling it back to show the latina's pretty face. It was very well possible, that they were looking at a future stylist that very second.

As the male artist did Gabriella's make up, the female artist turned to the rest of the girls, considering which of them to give a make over as well. "What about you, blondie?" She questioned Sharpay, as she pulled out another chair, gesturing for Sharpay to sit down. "Do you want to get a make over?"

Sharpay shifted uncomfortably, placing her right hand on her left upper arm, like she was cold or something. She didn't wanna get a make over, she didn't want some strange person touching her. She wanted to say no thank you or something at least, but as soon as the female artist began talking to her, she became completely tongue tied. It was an uncomfortable feeling, especially since she'd felt so confident lately.

It didn't go past Chase's eyes, that her friend was uncomfortable being on the spot like that. "One sec." She told the female make-up artist, as she held up a finger for that one second. She grabbed Sharpay's arm and pulled her away, so they were out of the others hearing range. "What's going on with you, Pay?"

Sharpay looked away and down to the ground, but she forced herself to look up again, as she could feel Chase's eyes burning on her. "It's just... I thought I could handle being here, but now not so much. And I don't want some strange person touching me. I don't like that, it makes me cringe." She explained to her friend, trying to remain control over her voice and not to cry. She blinked away the tears threatening to form in her eyes, and then she tried to smile at Chase.

"I thought you were over that?" Chase questioned her, as she stroke Sharpay's arm with a concerned look upon her face. If she wasn't over that, then Chase had sacrificed too much to be there, seeing as she was actually still grounded. She had ignored her father's authority to be there, because she wanted to celebrate with her friends, that Sharpay was doing so well, and now all of the sudden she wasn't? "You let me touch you, Troy and everybody else too. It doesn't really make any sense to me, I mean you should be over it?"

"Well, you guys aren't strangers, are you?" Sharpay said, like she was stating the obvious. Then she pushed away Chase's arm, shooting her a hard glare as she folded her arms across her chest. Sharpay hated the fact, that sometimes her friends had a habit of thinking, they knew her better than she knew herself. "Stop telling me whether or not I'm over things, it feels like you're analysing me, and I hate that. Now, if we're done here I'd like to get away from you and this place. Maybe mr. and mrs. face paint will give you a make over instead of me."

Sharpay knew she was probably being unreasonable, but she easily got over heated. It probably had to do with her handicap, she got easily upset. She should apologize to Chase, she knew that would be the right thing to do, but instead she turned around and walked away. She knew where she was headed, she was headed towards the mall's exit, and then Chase could tell everybody whatever the hell version she wanted of the situation.

Chase walked back to the other girls, and Gabriella's make up was coming along nicely. When she stood there in front of them watching again, they both looked up and shot her questionable looks, as if they wanted to ask where Sharpay had gone. Chase bit her bottom lip, and then she chose not to tell them the actual truth; "Uhm, Sharpay felt dizzy and wanted to get some fresh air."

Gabriella and Liz nodded their heads, as they understood and accepted what Chase had just told them. The male artist groaned, but quickly corrected his mistake. Gabriella went back to sitting still, and Liz went back to doing Gabriella's hair, which she had begun to french braid.

**IRBS**

Troy and Chad were waiting outside, while Zeke was inside some girly-girly store buying an 'I'm sorry' present for Chase. They were pretending like they had no relations with the store whatsoever, like they hadn't even noticed that the store was even there. They pretended like they were checking out something else out, that just happened to be next to that store Zeke was in.

Chad had his cellphone out, playing some game on it while they waited. Troy stood up against a window, while he wondered how Sharpay was doing. This wasn't her favourite place, everybody who knew Sharpay Evans knew that. She had crossed a lot of boundaries that day, and Troy was worried that she might soon break or something.

If she did break sooner or later, then that would be okay by him. She had done great, and he was immensely proud of her. After everything that had been going on between them during the summer, he had realized he was right, and she was special. He knew there were things about herself, that she could not change completely, but they'd get better in time. For Sharpay's sake he hoped so, as it would be easier for her to lead a normal life like everone else then.

After a long time waiting outside, Zeke finally came out from the damn store he'd been into. He'd bought a necklace with her starsign on it, as he knew Chase collected them and would love it. He showed the necklace to Troy and Chad, and they looked at it with tired eyes. They nodded their heads, as if to say it was alright, but they didn't really care.

Chad put his cellphone back in his pocket, and then he walked over to a bench and sat down. Zeke and Troy followed, sitting down on the same bench. Chad let out a deep sigh of relief, as they had finally gotten away from the girly store. Troy was just as relieved, letting out a deep sigh as well. Zeke was occupied by something else, his eyes scanned the place as far as they could, searching for his girlfriend.

"Do you know where the girls went?" Zeke questioned his friend, as he kept looking around the place. He had to give the present to Chase right away, he couldn't stand the fact, they weren't on the best of terms right now. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he needed her, so he had to find her, and it could only go too slow.

"Hopefully not H&M, otherwise someone is getting tickled behind the ear." Chad revealed to them, shooting mean glares after that damn store. He didn't even remember, why he didn't like that place, but he just didn't. If he had his way it would be burnt down, and they'd all live happily ever after in the best music store in the mall.

"I think they went right, when we wen't left. So if we need to find them, we have to go..." Troy paused, trying to figure out which way to go. He wasn't stupid, but they had been walking around for a while, and he couldn't remember which way they came from. "Somewhere. They can't be too hard to find? If we listen carefully, we might be able to hear Gabriella's helium voice."

"How do you think the girls are doing, anyways?" Chad wondered out loud, as he thought about different scenarios. If he knew them well, Liz was overgeared over something, and the others were trying to calm her down. Maybe Gabriella was exhausting them by dragging them through the entire mall? Perhaps Chase had done her magic and forced them all into H&M? Or Sharpay was... well, you never knew with her.

"I don't know." Troy said honestly, but he too had some thoughts that were more like hopes. He was so deep in thoughts, that he put into words for the guys, that he didn't even notice a figure standing behind him. "I just hope Sharpay can handle it. She's done so well lately, and she's improved so much I almost can't stand it. I'm so proud of her, I just hope all of this isn't too much for her, but if she gets through this day, I'll be even more proud of her."

Sharpay heard his words, he was proud of her and she couldn't let him down. She couldn't just flee the place, because she got too uncomfortable. She had to fight through it somehow, supress those feelings or something. Troy was proud, and she didn't want him to have been proud for no reason, she was gonna take it all the way.

So she headed back towards where she came from, back to where she had left the girls, and she was gonna let that strange woman touch her. When she began to walk, the guys began to walk as well into the exact same direction as her, but they didn't notice her walking way infront of them. They were too wrapped up in guys talk, and she was focussed on getting to her girls and fast.

She heard Gabriella's squeal, so she hurried up, as she knew her friends were near. It only took three minutes, before they were once again into sight. Sharpay could see, that Gabriella's make over was complete. Liz was done french braiding her hair, and the male make-up artist was done doing her make-up. She looked amazing from where Sharpay was standing, but she couldn't be too sure, untill she got up close to them.

When Sharpay had finally reached them, Liz squealed as well and jumped into Sharpay's arms, giving her a tight hug. "You feeling 'kay, Pay? We're so glad you're back! Did ya get enough air?" The tiny girl wanted to know, as she released the blonde girl out of her arms. Sharpay didn't say anything, she simply nodded, and Liz nearly bubbled over with joy. "YAY! Okay, so Gabby's make over is done, and not to give myself a praise, but look at her hair. What do you think, Payday?"

"She looks fantastic." Sharpay admitted with a smile upon her face, as it was hard to not smile with how Gabriella looked now. The latina stepped out of the chair and the zone, and then she gave Sharpay a hug as a thank you. She let go and walked over to Chase, and then Sharpay turned to the female make-up artist. "Hey, are you still up for giving me a make over? I'm fresh now."

The female make-up artist nodded with a smile and pulled out the chair, then she took Sharpay by the hand and led her to the chair. Sharpay had a hard time not flinching by a stranger's touch, but she managed to do so. As Sharpay's butt hit the seat of the chair, the boys arrived at the scene, and Zeke immediately went to Chase's side to apologize.

Sharpay watched them like they were two people in a movie, she thought she might as well. The female artist was fiddling with finding the right make-up, so Sharpay wasn't occupied at the minute. She couldn't make out their words, as they spoke quietly to each other, but they seemed to be making up. They talked for a while, and then Zeke gave something to Chase, and she swung her arms around him and gave him a huge kiss. Sharpay smiled, the happy could was once again happy.

"Hey, Chase?" Sharpay called out to her friend, who looked up and stepped closer. Chase didn't seem to blame Sharpay for anything, but Sharpay still felt like she had to apologize. "Look, I'm sorry for the things I said. You were only trying to figure me out, but sometimes I'm just like that."

"That's okay." Chase said, waving out a hand that indicated, she had let it all go already. She was really surprised, that Sharpay had come back and she was now sitting in the make-up stool. Never in a million years would any of them have ever imagined her in that position, and it was safe to say it wasn't only Troy who was proud.

"Chad, will you please hold my hand?" Sharpay looked at her best friend with puppy dog eyes, and he couldn't resist. He rushed to her side and grasped her hand in his, and it really helped her nerves, it almost didn't matter that a stranger was about to touch her. "Thanks, I feel a little better now. I'm freaking out, though, on the inside."

"It's gonna be okay." Chad tried to assure his best friend, as he held on to her hand as tight as he could. She gave him a thankful smile, and he smiled back just the same to say 'you're welcome'. As soon as the female artist stepped over to Sharpay, though, ready to give her a make over with right colours, Sharpay's smile faded into nothing. Chad had to repeat himself. "It's gonna be okay."

The female artist was about to give Sharpay some eye shadow on, but the blonde girl tilted her head back. This was more than she could handle, but she couldn't back out now, because then Troy wouldn't be proud of her anymore. The make-up artist tried again, but Sharpay did the same as before and tilted her head back.

"Uhm, before you begin I was just wondering... would it be okay if I sing?" Sharpay questioned the female make-up artist, who stared at Sharpay weirdly, like she had to be kidding. But Sharpay was serious, as she was very nervous and practically scared, and whenever she sang it felt like nothing could harm her. She needed to sing. "Please? I'm really freaking out, and I wouldn't be as nervous, if I could sing?"

The make-up artist nodded her head and smiled. Normally she didn't let her customers do that, but there was something special about this girl, so she couldn't refuse it. Plus she really needed a challenge, it would be fantastic to tell her friends, that she put lipgloss on a girl who was singing.

"So what do you wanna sing?" Liz questioned her friend, as she was always up for a good singing session. Liz had a couple of good songs in her mind, that she'd sing if she was Sharpay, but then again when didn't she? She stepped a little closer to the zone, as she smiled and fluttered her eyes at Sharpay, eager to know her song choice.

"I was thinking Make-Up by Jesse McCartney." Sharpay proposed, glancing around to see if anybody else had any better suggestions. Nobody said anything, and Liz joyfully clapped her hands together, so Sharpay figured it was the right song choice. "Figured it kinda suits the situation?"

Sharpay began singing, and the female make-up artist began doing her make-up. Sharpay didn't even take notice of the fact, that a strange lady was touching her, because she sang and she felt safe. And when Sharpay came to the chorus, Liz joined in and so did everybody else. They were all a crazy bunch, but more importantly Troy had been right all along. Only a very special person would sing during a make over.

Troy leaned in towards the nearest person, who happened to be Gabriella, and then he whispered into her ear; "I was right, she is special."

Half an hour later Sharpay had gotten her make over, and she looked absolutely gorgeous. She thanked the make-up artist, which was another rare thing, and then she looked at everybody with her puppy dog eyes. They seemed to have a better effect now, that they were painted on, and she pleaded them all to go home.

Everybody quickly gave in, because for Sharpay it had been a longer day than theirs, and it had been more of a drag. Plus she had crossed a lot of personal boundaries, and they were extremely proud of her, so it was okay they went home already. Sharpay should be proud of herself, she had found out that day, she could function as a normal person.

When Troy and Sharpay walked out hand in hand followed by everybody else, Troy knew that this was the girl he'd be with forever. He was the guy who made her say the famous words 'I'd rather be special', he made her realize that she was special. He had always said, he'd rather be with someone special, and he was gonna be with her forever. He was sure of it, because he was pretty often right. After all Sharpay was special.

_The freaking end :). I hope it was acceptable for everybody? I've sat on the floor for hours trying to finish this, and now my butt hurts insanely. You know what would help for the pain, though? Reviews!!! And lots of them, as it's the very last chapter? What do you say? THANK YOU :)._

_By the way? The thing I said I'd reveal to you at the end of this story? Yeah, the thing is that I actually have Asperger's Syndrome, which is where I got the idea from to a certain point. I just wanna get a point across, Sharpay is not based on me, as we're nothing alike. Sharpay was very weak in the beginning, remember? I've always acted like this tough chick, I've always had this negative attitude, pushing people away. But where my real inspiration came from is the fact, that I have ever since I discovered my handicap distanced myself from it, because I don't want it (still don't), and I've never asked for it. I don't wanna deal with it, I basically just wanna get life over with. That's my inspiration, I thought it could be cool, if someone could help Sharpay deal with it. Y'know help her realize that she's special? I also know that I haven't been as detailed as I could've have been, which is also due to the fact that I've distanced myself from it, so I don't know that much. I really only know some of the basics, and I tried to use them for Sharpay. That Sharpay pushed her friends away is kinda based on me, though I've never really had any real friends. I don't like making friends either, because either they don't wanna be friends with someone like me, or they always leave in the end and let me down. I'm gonna cut it off here, so I don't go on all day, but if you have some questions or anything, you are very welcome to ask me._

_Again it would be very much appreciated, if I got one last review for the last chapter of this story. And I just wanna say, because I few have mentioned this to me, that I overuse commas. Sorry, I've got a hard time staying on subject. Anyways, I just wanna say I've never really learned the comma things properly, and I tend to just put them the places, I think they look good. I've worked on it, though. In this chapter, I don't know if you noticed. Anyways, tell me what you think about all of this? In other words (one last time); ready, set, REVIEW._

_**Laters, AK-tutti :)**_

_(cya in The Lilee & Chase Series ;b)_


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